


Beast

by Yusuke_Uchiha



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel)
Genre: Anal Sex, Biting, Blow Jobs, Bondage, Communication Failure, Fluff and Smut, Hair-pulling, Hand Jobs, M/M, Masochism, Masturbation, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Personality Swap, Porn with Feelings, Prostate Massage, Rimming, Rough Sex, Sadism, Smut, Teasing, Tickling, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:09:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yusuke_Uchiha/pseuds/Yusuke_Uchiha
Summary: Aoba has been frequently visiting Mizuki in the hospital, and during one of his visits, Sly decides to break his silence to pressure Aoba into telling Mizuki about his true feelings. When Aoba refuses, Sly decides to take matters into his own hands, but all he does is make things worse. Then it's up to him to fix his mess and convince the stubborn ass Aoba and Mizuki to stop dancing around each other. But this is Sly we're talking about. He's gonna do it HIS way.
Relationships: Mizuki/Seragaki Aoba, Mizuki/Sly Blue (DRAMAtical Murder)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GredellElle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GredellElle/gifts).



> Another fic for my awesome friend GredellElle. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy. :D

“You okay, Aoba?”

Aoba looked up, blinking a couple of times as his mind clicked back into place. There was Mizuki, sitting in his hospital bed as he’d been the last several times Aoba had come to visit him. 

“Yeah,” Aoba answered. “Sorry. I guess I was spacing out.”

“Oh really?” Mizuki teased. “Here I was thinking you’d challenged the floor to a staring contest.”

Aoba chuckled lightly, but it was mostly a cover. He knew very well that he hadn’t actually been spacing out. He’d been hearing a voice. One he hadn’t heard so clearly in quite some time. Not since he’d accepted… him. The other Aoba. Sly Blue. The two of them had come to something of a silent agreement wherein Aoba would be in charge again and Sly would stay in the back of his mind.  
  
But this was far from the first time he’d broken that agreement. It started with a light whisper. Something that Aoba hardly noticed and chalked up to him hearing things. Then it became fully audible words, still quiet enough that he was able to keep dismissing it. But now, today, Sly was actually speaking to him.

‘ _Jesus fucking Christ, if you’re not gonna tell him, then let me out and I’ll do it_.’

Aoba didn’t want to look like a loon in front of Mizuki, so he’d answered non-verbally, ‘ _What are you talking about?_ ’

‘ _Don’t give me that crap_ ,’ Sly growled. ‘ _You forget that I’m you, and I know exactly what you’re thinking_ . _Always._ ’

Aoba ducked his head down so that Mizuki wouldn’t see his reddened cheeks and snapped back, ‘ _Shut up. You’re full of it_.’

‘ _Uh-huh_ ,’ Sly said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. ‘ _You know, if you don’t grab him, he’s gonna get snatched up by someone else. What are you gonna do, then_?’

That was all they’d managed to say to each other before Mizuki interrupted Aoba’s internal fight. But it was enough that Aoba knew he was going to have to somehow convince Sly to back off. He couldn’t have Sly interrupting his time with Mizuki like this.

“Well, anyway,” Mizuki said cheerfully. “I was just about to tell you that I’m getting released from the hospital tonight.”

Aoba’s eyes widened and he smiled brightly. “Really? That’s great!”

Mizuki grinned and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, well, I told the doc that if they kept me one more day, the guys were gonna charge in here and bust me out.”

That made Aoba chuckle. Honestly, the thought of a whole bunch of Dry Juice dudes running rough shot through the hospital… He’d have paid to see it. 

“Well, then you’d better be careful not to get into any fights, at least for a little while,” Aoba told him. “Don’t wanna wind up right back here, do you?”

Mizuki flashed a sly grin and said, “And what if I do? I’ve kinda enjoyed you taking care of me.”

Mizuki winked and Aoba had to look away as heat stung his cheeks again. He knew Mizuki was only joking, but that did absolutely nothing to stop his heart from racing. Because he’d enjoyed taking care of Mizuki, too. It wasn’t something he’d ever really been able to do since Mizuki was always so tough and independent. It felt good to be the one he was relying on, for once.

“Speaking of that,” Mizuki said. “Didn’t you say you had something for me?”

Aoba snapped to attention and answered, “Oh, yeah. Hang on.”

He reached down under his chair and pulled up a box tied up with a red handkerchief. After Mizuki took it, he had it opened in a flash and his eyes lit right up.

“Tae-san’s donuts!” Mizuki exclaimed. “Holy shit, how long has it been since I’ve had these?”

Aoba laughed again as Mizuki started tearing into the donuts as if they were his last meal, almost choking when he shoved too many in his mouth at once. Aoba was forced to bring Mizuki a glass of water, rolling his eyes the whole time. Mizuki gulped down the water and coughed a few times before he was all smiles again.

“My hero,” Mizuki choked out, and Aoba sucked in a breath at the sight of Mizuki’s eyes watering.

This wasn’t the first time it had happened, and Aoba knew it wouldn’t be the last. No matter the context, every single time Mizuki’s eyes watered, Aoba’s brain went straight to places he knew it shouldn’t be going. It wasn’t that he wanted to see Mizuki sad or in pain. That was the last thing he wanted. But...

‘ _Naughty, Aoba_ ,’ came Sly’s voice again. ‘ _What would poor Mizuki think if he could see the dirty thoughts going through your head right now_?’

Aoba didn’t bother trying to say anything back this time because there was nothing he could say. Not when Sly was right. He really didn’t want to see Mizuki in pain, but the thought of making Mizuki feel so good that it drew tears from his eyes… 

Aoba’s eyes widened a little when he felt the familiar sensation of blood shooting to his cock, and he internally scolded himself. What the hell are you doing, you moron? Mizuki is sitting right there!

Thankfully, Mizuki didn’t seem to notice anything was amiss because he was too focused on finishing the donuts. So Aoba managed to reasonably calm himself down by the time Mizuki chased the last donut with a swig of water. 

“Ahhh!” Mizuki sighed as he leaned back on the bed with his arms behind his head. “Thanks, Aoba. That hit the spot.”

Aoba grinned at him and took back the box and the handkerchief, putting them in his lap so he could get them ready to bring back to his grandma. He’d just slid the folded-up handkerchief inside the box when he noticed Mizuki turn his head. One look at his tanned face let Aoba know something was wrong because his smile had vanished.

“Mizuki?” Aoba said. “What’s wrong?”

Mizuki flinched as if Aoba had broken him from some sort of trance before his smile returned. Weaker this time, though, like he was forcing it.

“Sorry,” Mizuki said. “Just thinking about stuff I shouldn’t be.”

 _That makes two of us._ Aoba held back from saying that out loud, especially since he was fairly certain Mizuki’s thoughts were nowhere in the range of where Aoba’s had been.

“Wanna tell me about it?” Aoba asked, trying to make it clear that he would not be offended if Mizuki said no.

Mizuki bristled a little and crossed his arms, but he still answered, “It’s just… I know Tae-san told me not to worry, but part of me was still worrying that she might be mad at me.”

Those words were a sharp and unwelcome reminder of something Aoba really hadn’t wanted to think about. Mizuki, brainwashed and holding Granny at knifepoint. Diving into Mizuki’s head with Scrap to try to stop him. Learning how terrified Mizuki was of being alone. And then failing at Scrap so spectacularly that he nearly destroyed Mizuki completely.

He and Mizuki had formed a sort of silent agreement that they wouldn’t talk about that stuff anymore, but Aoba should have known it was unavoidable. The topic was always gonna be bridged again one day.

Aoba threw on the most comforting smile he could muster and told him, “Granny was never mad at you. She knew you weren’t yourself.”

Mizuki shook his head. “That’s no excuse. I let myself be dragged into Morphine. If I’d just-”

“Stop,” Aoba interrupted. “Didn’t we decide we weren’t gonna blame ourselves for all that crap anymore?”

A more pained smile curled on Mizuki’s lips. “Yeah… I guess we did.”

Mizuki went quiet for a few seconds, and during that time, he took a deep breath and blew it out heavily. Then he stretched his arms over his head, and Aoba watched as the pained smile turned into a real one. It made a smile tug at Aoba’s lips, as well. 

“All right, I’ll quit moping,” Mizuki said, a pep in his voice again. “Gotta make sure I’m in a good mood for when I meet with the guys.”

“Are they gonna come pick you up later?”

Mizuki nodded. “They wanna take me out drinking but the doc says I should give it a few weeks before I have any alcohol.”

Aoba felt a twinge of disappointment. “Does that mean we can’t meet at the bar?”

Mizuki’s smile widened. “Of course we can. You’ll just have to make sure I don’t try to sneak any booze.”

Mizuki followed up with a wink and Aoba rolled his eyes. But, on the inside, he was celebrating. Being able to be with Mizuki normally again was a greater relief than Aoba could say.

‘ _Normally_ ,’ Sly drawled. ‘ _Yeah. We’ll just see about that_.’

Aoba’s eyebrows ran together and he internally snapped, ‘ _Stay out of it, Sly! Mizuki is my friend, and I’m not gonna let you ruin that!_ ’

He could almost see Sly rolling his eyes. ‘ _Oh, stop being so dramatic. I’m not gonna_ ruin _anything_.’

Aoba was a mere second from a retort when Mizuki said, “Aoba?”

Aoba snapped to attention again and he dumbly said, “Huh?”

Mizuki looked concerned. “You sure you’re okay? You’re spacing out a lot.”

“Um, yeah,” Aoba scrambled to say. “I’m sorry. Just tired is all.”

Mizuki’s eyes narrowed a bit and he frowned. He didn’t believe Aoba, and Aoba couldn’t blame him. It was a half-assed excuse, but it was better than trying to explain to Mizuki that there were two personalities inhabiting Aoba’s body. Things were getting as close to normal as they could get. The last thing he wanted was for Mizuki to think he was crazy.

“Okay,” Mizuki said, a bit of hurt in his voice. “Well, try to get some rest when you get home, then.”

Mizuki’s tone was like a stab to Aoba’s chest, but he took it. He had to. Maybe he’d tell Mizuki about it one day, but not now. 

“Right,” Aoba said, taking that as his cue to leave. He stood, put on a smile, and met Mizuki’s eyes, which were still a little pained. “Message you later?”

Mizuki smiled back, his looking as forced as Aoba’s, and he nodded. “Definitely. Just don’t get worried if I don’t answer. The guys will probably keep me pretty busy for a little while, at least until things level out again.”

“It’s okay,” Aoba answered. “I’m not going anywhere, so take all the time you need.”

With a wave, Aoba turned to leave. He was halfway to the door when Mizuki stopped him with another, “Aoba.”

Aoba half-turned and saw that Mizuki’s expression had wilted again. Both of his hands were gripping to the blanket covering him, as he said, “I know something is wrong. You don’t have to tell me yet, but I’m not going anywhere, either. So I’ll be here when you’re ready to tell me.”

Aoba’s chest felt as if it was being squeezed with a vice, and his heart thumped so hard he felt it in his ears. Fuck. Mizuki was just so…

‘ _Perfect_?’ Sly finished for him, and Aoba wished Sly had his own body so he could punch him for it.

“I’ll see you later, Mizuki,” Aoba said, and he didn’t wait for another response. He left the room and the hospital without so much as a stall in his step. 

The whole walk home, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Mizuki… he had no idea what he was doing, had _always_ been doing, to Aoba. Now, after he’d come so close to losing Mizuki, every little thing that reminded Aoba how wonderful Mizuki was left him feeling both euphoric and miserable. 

Euphoric because he loved him, and miserable because there was no way Mizuki loved him the same way.

When he got home, he didn’t even stop to say hello to his grandmother and shot up to his room. Ren was lying on his bed in sleep mode, so Aoba decided to let him sleep and went to his bed. He flopped down onto it, put on his headphones, and cranked the music up. 

It didn’t help as much as it usually did, but it helped enough that Aoba was able to stop his heart racing and his mind running away with itself. This was nothing. He’d known for a while how he felt about Mizuki, and he’d lived with it then. So he could damn well do it now.

As the music carried on and on, he felt his eyelids becoming heavy, so he let them fall closed. He was slipping into a dream when he barely caught the sound of a voice.

‘ _You are completely hopeless_.’

* * *

Sly was being generous, of course. A habit he’d picked up since he and Aoba had come to their understanding. Aoba wasn’t just hopeless. He was almost beyond help. Almost. Good thing Sly was here. If he had to share this body with Aoba, he was not gonna sit here and watch the moron endlessly pine over Mizuki. It was a game that was already dull and annoying, at this point, and he was ready to see it end. But his intentions weren't entirely altruistic, of course.

He’d been inside of Mizuki’s head just as Aoba had. But while Aoba had been busy speaking to Mizuki’s internal representation of himself, Sly had done a little exploring on his own. It wasn’t overtly obvious, of course, but there were far too many traces of Aoba within Mizuki’s mind. Brief playbacks of the songs Aoba would play on his headphones. A stuffed version of that damn dog Aoba always carried around. A mannequin head with a head of long, blue hair. 

Several other things like that, things that were placed in such a way that they could easily be missed. Slightly concealed inside of a cardboard box or veiled by a thin, translucent curtain. Sly was far from a psychiatrist, but it didn’t take a genius to guess at what it meant. And Sly was eager to determine if his guess was correct. Because the traces of Aoba weren’t the only intriguing things he found.

A pair of leather cuffs hidden behind a dumpster. A black feather duster peeking out from underneath the lid of a trash bin. And a flogger sitting in an opened plastic tote. Those and several other traces were also hidden _just_ out of sight. They told a _much_ clearer story, one that left Sly biting his lower lip in anticipation. He _really_ hoped he was right about the traces of Aoba because he desperately wanted to act on the other traces.

But there was no need to rush. He had plenty of time to press Mizuki’s buttons, and the very thought made him smirk. Mizuki… always so level-headed and gentle. Sly damn near shuddered with excitement at the prospect of breaking that calm and dragging out the inner beast that was represented by that flogger. And, thankfully, Aoba had given Sly the perfect means of beginning his plan.

With Aoba asleep, it was easier than usual to slip into his place, pushing him to the back and taking over their body. Once Sly was looking through their eyes, he raised his wrist and pushed a button on Aoba’s coil. He scrolled through the contacts to find Mizuki’s name and sent him a short and simple message.

The notification popped up to show that Mizuki had seen it, but he didn’t respond. Sly knew he likely wouldn’t, making the plan even more perfect. By the time Aoba woke up, it would be too late for him to want to message Mizuki, so he’d definitely put it off for later. 

So all Sly had to do was slide back into Aoba’s mind and wait.

* * *

Aoba slept way too long after he fell asleep to his music. By the time he dragged himself out of bed, his grandmother was already almost finished with dinner. He stumbled down the stairs with his mussed hair and laughed along when she teased him about his bedhead. They had a pleasant chat over dinner, and she smiled when Aoba told her that Mizuki was being released from the hospital.  
  
And that was when he remembered he’d forgotten to message Mizuki, but he decided not to bother him, reasoning that he was probably already hanging out with his team. So almost an entire day passed without him messaging Mizuki like he said he would, and it wasn’t until his shift at Mediocrity was almost over that he decided he’d best go ahead and message him as soon as he clocked out. 

He cashed out the last customer right before closing time and went about his end-of-the-day duties. It had been a slow day, so there wasn’t all that much to do, and Aoba was relieved for that. He wanted to talk to Mizuki sooner rather than later, if possible. After finishing up the last bit of the cleaning, he made his way to the front door, walked through, closed it, and locked it. With a relieved sigh, he slid the key into his pocket and raised his coil. It had been long enough, surely he could message Mizuki now without seeming too eager or clingy.

“Hey, Aoba!”

Aoba froze, his finger stopping a mere centimeter from the button on his coil. His eyes raised, and he swallowed at the sight of Mizuki walking toward him, waving lazily. Aoba’s shock turned to fondness and a cheerful smile curled on his lips.

“Hey,” Aoba answered. “What are you doing here?”

Mizuki chuckled as he closed the distance between them. With a light shove to Aoba’s shoulder, Mizuki said jokingly, “I wonder. It’s almost like someone messaged me last night and asked me to meet him here. Funny how that works.” 

Aoba’s mouth hung open. “Huh? Messaged you?”

Mizuki laughed again, a little louder this time. “Ha! How much did you drink yesterday?”

This was the part where Aoba was supposed to laugh, play along, and make Mizuki think that drunkenness was all it was. But his throat laced up, and he felt his expression wilt before his eyes averted. 

Sly. It had to be. That bastard took over while Aoba was sleeping.

‘ _Bastard_ ?’ Sly taunted. ‘ _That’s awfully harsh_.’

Aoba audibly growled, deep in his throat, and he bit back, ‘ _This isn’t funny, Sly! What the hell are you up to_?’

‘ _Hmm? I don’t know_ what _you’re talking about_.’

‘ _The hell you don’t! I told you to_ -!’

“Aoba!”

The voice was followed by a sudden jarring of Aoba’s whole body, and he looked up only to find Mizuki grasping his shoulders tightly and staring, wide-eyed at him. 

Mizuki’s tanned face had paled, and he sounded genuinely frightened when he asked, “What is going on? I said your name three times and it didn’t even seem like you heard me.”

Aoba stared back at Mizuki, and he swallowed again as his heart began to race. Dammit. He’d tried so hard yesterday to keep from having this conversation. He didn’t want to have it now. 

Aoba opened his mouth to answer, but Mizuki said firmly, “And don’t you dare say you’re still tired.”

Aoba’s mouth closed tightly, and he hung his head, feeling Mizuki’s eyes even if he wasn’t looking at them. Well, he was stuck now, wasn’t he? He couldn’t tell Mizuki to forget about it, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to tell him about Sly, either. It was just so-

“Eh? Hey! Mizuki, what-”

“Just shut up and come on,” Mizuki said, dragging Aoba along by his wrist. “I’m not letting you wiggle out of it this time. We’re talking about this, whatever it is.”

Every cell in Aoba’s body was screaming at him to shake his wrist free and run. The very thought of talking to Mizuki about this made his chest wrench, and every step further only made that worse. But it was pointless. This conversation was going to have to happen one day, no matter how much Aoba didn’t want it to. 

So he went along without a fuss as Mizuki led Aoba down the familiar route they always took to reach the bar. Once they were inside, Mizuki took Aoba over to one of the barstools and told him to wait there. Aoba didn’t say anything, but he did as he was told, watching as Mizuki went around the room to talk to a few of his teammates. 

There weren’t very many people in the bar, but Mizuki’s teammates still rounded all of them up and sent them on their way. And it made Aoba feel terribly guilty. Mizuki was going to lose business today because of him. Aoba’s eyes dropped to the bar, and he wound his fingers together, not raising his head for even a moment to look at a single person as they walked by. No doubt they’d give him the stink eye for being the only person being allowed to stay.

The room grew quieter and quieter as more people left, until Mizuki and one of his teammates were the only two people left. After giving his teammate a friendly farewell, Mizuki saw him off and closed the door, clicking the lock into place immediately. That was when Aoba finally looked away from the bar and watched Mizuki as he approached the bar and walked around the back of it. He grabbed one of the bottles off of the middle shelf and Aoba thought for a second he was about to make himself a drink, but then he saw which bottle Mizuki had in his hand. It was Aoba’s favorite drink. 

Shit. Mizuki was making Aoba feel worse and worse by the second. He was being such an inconvenience, but Mizuki was just so kind…

After pouring the drink, Mizuki slid it toward Aoba, looked down at him sternly and said, “All right. Start talking.”

Aoba hesitantly took the drink, looked down at it, and swirled it a little, the ice clinking against the side of the glass as he tried to think of where to start. It would be easy enough to just blurt it out and say, “Hey, there are technically two different people in here” but it didn’t seem very tactful. Especially since Mizuki was still, technically, recovering and Aoba didn’t want to make things any harder for him than he had to.

So Aoba decided he’d start slow and asked, “Do you remember when we first met?”

“Yeah,” Mizuki answered, fondness in his voice. “Of course I do. You were a major brat back then.”

He followed that up with a light chuckle, and Aoba wanted to laugh with him, but he couldn’t. Still, he didn’t want Mizuki to think he was offended so he took a breath and made himself continue.

“I guess I was, sort of,” Aoba said, not meaning to sound so cryptic but there was really no other way to say it. “That was me, but it also… wasn’t me.”

He looked at Mizuki, and the confusion was plain on his face. He crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side.

“What do you mean it wasn’t you?”

Aoba’s hand shook as he raised the cup and took a drink. It was just as sweet as it always was, but it did little to dull his nerves. 

“I-”

‘ _Oh, just let me out_ ,’ Sly interrupted. ‘ _That’ll be a lot easier._ ’

Aoba’s eyebrows ran together. ‘ _You want me to let you out after you took over while I was sleeping_?’

‘ _Yes_ ,’ Sly answered right away. ‘ _We both know you’re just gonna trip over your own damn tongue trying to explain all this. So just let me out and_ show _him_.’

Aoba wanted to bite back more than anything, but the words died on his tongue. Sly was right. Just showing Mizuki would be easier than trying to find the words to explain this, even if Aoba knew Sly might say some things Aoba wouldn’t approve of. 

“Aoba?” came Mizuki’s concerned voice. “What is it?”

Aoba took one more drink, inhaled one more deep breath, and blew it out slowly. Then he gave Mizuki an apologetic look.

“Just don’t freak out, okay?” Aoba said. “Promise?”

Mizuki only looked even more concerned now, but he still answered, “Okay. I promise.”

With a nod, Aoba closed his eyes and internally said, ‘ _Behave, Sly. If you fuck things up with Mizuki I’ll never forgive you_.’

‘ _Yeah, yeah_ ,’ Sly answered. ‘ _Quit your worrying. It’ll be fine_.’

He could say that all he wanted, but Aoba knew for certain that Sly would wind up saying or doing something embarrassing. So Aoba allowed himself to fall completely unconscious. If this had to happen, Aoba didn’t want to be awake to see it.

The transition was seamless, Sly slipping easily into the driver’s seat, as it were. Within only a couple of seconds, he was the one looking up at Mizuki, a pleased smirk on his face.

“Hey there,” Sly said. “I see you got my message.”

Mizuki looked taken aback. “Huh?”

Sly stretched his arms over his head before lazily leaning forward to pick up Aoba’s drink. He raised it to his lips, took a sip, and recoiled harshly the moment the sweet drink touched his tongue. 

“Ugh,” he spat. “How does he drink this fruity crap? You got anything harder?”

But Mizuki just stood there, still staring at Sly as if he had two heads. Sly might have been annoyed by it if it wasn’t so damn funny.

“What?” Sly asked teasingly. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me. You met me before you even met Aoba.”

Mizuki’s arms crossed, his confusion turning to discomfort as he said, “So you’re... not Aoba?”

Sly shrugged. “Yes and no. I’m part of him, just separate.”

He didn’t exactly look comfortable, but Mizuki relaxed a little bit. “And when I first met Aoba… you were the one in charge?”

Sly flashed a cocky half-smile. “Bingo. Now, how about that drink? Straight, if you don’t mind.”

A little bit of suspicion danced across Mizuki’s eyes, but he still turned back to the bottles of booze and pulled one down from a higher shelf. He grabbed a new glass and didn’t put any ice, just as Sly asked. But he didn’t give the drink straight to Sly and instead walked around the bar with the drink in his hand. Sly followed him with his eyes until Mizuki was standing at the barstool right next to Sly’s.

He placed the drink in front of Sly and half-flopped onto the chair. Hmm. Seems this revelation was affecting Mizuki more than Sly realized. Good. If he was already cracking a little, it would make Sly’s plan go much more smoothly.

Sly took the glass and held it up to his nose, swishing the drink around a little so he could get a good whiff of it. It smelled strong and bitter. Perfect. 

He took a long, slow drink and said, “Ahh, that’s better.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mizuki turn to rest his elbows on the bar. His hands shook as they wound together, and it only made Sly smirk more. Mizuki was making this way too easy. It was almost disappointing. 

“So if you're not Aoba, what should I call you?” Mizuki asked, voice trembling slightly.

Sly took another sip before answering, “I don’t really care, but Aoba calls me Sly, so you can use that if it makes things easier.”

Mizuki hummed, and his thumbs started twiddling. “So Sly Blue wasn’t Aoba? It was you?”

“More or less,” Sly replied. “Didn’t you think it was weird that Aoba suddenly started acting so differently after that little trip to the hospital? No more street fights. No more Rhyme.”

Mizuki didn’t answer, but the look on his face told Sly that yes, he had thought it was strange. Things went quiet for a few moments while Mizuki seemed to be trying to fully process what he was being told. Sly wasn’t in any hurry, so he decided he’d go ahead and finish the drink. Damn, it really was good.

He’d tipped back the last gulp of the drink when Mizuki broke the silence to ask, “So what happened to you after that? Where did you go?”

A mild bitterness rose in Sly’s chest but he pushed it down. He and Aoba had mostly resolved their differences, so he wasn’t going to waste time dwelling on crap like that.

He held the glass between both hands and said, “I guess you could say I was kinda shoved behind a wall with a locked door. And the door only unlocked when Aoba was in over his head.”

“In over his head?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Sly responded cheekily, an idea coming to him. This was the perfect segway he needed to start his plan. He leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling and coyly pretending to think. “Like that time all those men were trying to have their way.”

Mizuki tensed so much that Sly managed to catch a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. With another smirk, Sly went on, “I stopped them, of course. But then there was Mink. He was a sight, let me tell you. Tall, dark skin, cut from marble, and fuck was he strong. Strong enough to completely overpower Aoba and have his way. And boy did he have his way, over and over again until poor Aoba just couldn’t take it anymore and I had to-”

Mizuki’s hands slammed into the counter, and his barstool was thrown back as he got to his feet, eyes burning with rage. Sly looked back at him, not at all intimidated by the outburst. In fact, it was exactly what he’d been looking for. 

“Did I touch a nerve?” Sly asked with feigned innocence. “Sorry. My mouth tends to run away with itself.”

Mizuki looked back at him with utter bafflement and growled, “What the hell is wrong with you? You’re talking about people hurting Aoba like it doesn’t affect you at all! Like you don’t even care!”

Sly shrugged. “I didn’t care at the time. No sense in pretending that I suddenly care now. Besides, it’s not like Aoba holds a grudge against Mink. He was ready to chase after him until he learned you were starting to recover.”

Mizuki’s expression softened a little in an instant. He still looked royally pissed off, but he seemed to calm himself down enough that he was able to pull his chair back to the counter and sit down. But Sly didn’t miss how he moved the chair a little further away. Well, Sly could forgive him for that. He _did_ get a little carried away with the details.

Mizuki wound his fingers together again and leaned his forehead against the back of his hands. “I can’t believe you’re part of Aoba. You two couldn’t be any more different.”

“Hmm,” Sly answered nonchalantly. “Everyone has a side like me. Even you.”

“Oh yeah,” Mizuki scoffed, throwing a glare at Sly. “And how do you know that?”

Sly looked back, another cocky grin on his face. “Aoba wasn’t the only one inside of your head.”

Mizuki’s eyes went wider, and his mouth hung open. No words came out, and instead, Mizuki just stared back, completely speechless. Only speechless? Sly thought he could definitely do better than that.

He climbed out of his own barstool and closed the wider gap between him and Mizuki. He reveled in how Mizuki tensed when he dropped both of his hands on Mizuki’s knees and ran them up his thighs. Their faces were only a few inches apart when Sly flashed another grin and let down all of the inhibitions stopping his eagerness from coming through. Aoba might not have been willing to let Mizuki know how much he wanted him, but Sly was _much_ more than willing.

“So when you’re ready to stop being such a goody-two-shoes nice guy, you let me know,” Sly purred, bringing his lips a mere inch from Mizuki’s. “Because with me… you’ll never have to hold _anything_ back.”

It was small, barely a noticeable spark in Mizuki’s eyes, but there was no way Sly could have missed it. Intrigue. It was buried behind layers of discomfort and anger, but it was there, and it made Sly positively burn. Yes. That was exactly what he’d wanted to see.

The spark died when Mizuki’s face twisted into a scowl and he sharply said, “If you know me as well as you think you do, then you know I’d never go for someone like you.”

With that, Mizuki shoved Sly’s hands away from his thighs and pushed him back. Sly stumbled a little and had to balance himself on the counter to keep from falling, but he was far from disappointed. Mizuki could put up all of the pretenses he wanted, but Sly already knew his honest feelings. 

“Pity,” Sly said, playing along. “But I can take a hint.”

“Then get out of here, and bring Aoba back,” Mizuki snarled cooly. “I invited _him_ here, not you.”

Sly didn’t let it outwardly show, but that burning from before only intensified more and more with every angry word out of Mizuki’s mouth. He had no idea, did he, that seeing him like this only made Sly want him more? Still, he didn’t want to push too hard… yet. 

So he shrugged and said, “Fine. But don’t think you’re getting rid of me.”

He followed that up with a wink, but Mizuki’s scowl only intensified. Shit, Sly absolutely couldn’t wait for the moment when those walls of Mizuki’s fell and he really let loose. If Sly wasn’t careful, he might fall stupidly in love just like Aoba.

With one more smirk, Sly closed his eyes and internally said, ‘ _Nap time’s over, Aoba_.’

He hated this part, being relegated to the background again. But knowing what he had waiting for him in his future prevented him from being too irate.

The transition was just as seamless as last time, and soon enough Aoba was awake again, blinking a few times as he came to. He looked around, confused for a second when he realized he was standing. Then his eyes fell on Mizuki and his blood ran cold. He looked… angry. No, not angry. Furious. God, what did Sly do?

“Mizuki?” Aoba said carefully. “Are you…?”

The anger vanished completely as if it had never been there. “Aoba?”

Aoba nodded. “What happened? Did he- Eh?”

Mizuki’s arms were suddenly around him, and they were squeezing him so tightly that Aoba had trouble sucking in a gasp. It took Aoba’s brain a few seconds to catch up with what just happened, but as soon as it did, his cheeks burned and his heart started absolutely hammering his chest. Oh god. What the hell was Mizuki doing?

Then, no sooner had the unexpected hug started, did Mizuki suddenly pull back, looking completely flabbergasted by what he’d just done.

“S-Sorry, Aoba,” Mizuki stuttered out. “I…”

He either lost what words he was gonna say or realized he didn’t know what to say. Either way, he averted his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking more uncomfortable than Aoba had ever seen him. But there was something else, too. Aoba couldn’t put his finger on it, but something in the air between them felt… different. 

“Mizuki?” Aoba said quietly. “What did he say to you?”

Mizuki didn’t move. He didn’t even look at Aoba. And it made a knot immediately form in Aoba’s throat. He tried to swallow it down, but it came right back, along with a painful tightness in his chest.

“Say something,” Aoba half-begged. “Please.”

But he didn’t. He still didn’t even look Aoba’s way. And that was when Aoba figured it out. The thing that felt different. There was a wall between him and Mizuki now, a wall that hadn’t been there before he let Sly out. That realization pushed tears out of his eyes, and he quickly bolted past Mizuki, heading straight for the bar’s front door. He unlocked it and flung it open, not looking back as he ran through the streets and back to his house.

As he ran, the tears kept coming, no matter how many times he wiped them away. Things were finally okay again, and now…

“What did you do, Sly?” Aoba said aloud, not caring if anyone heard him. “What did you do?”

But Sly didn’t answer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changed the number of chapters to 2 because I'm not sure if the third chapter is going to happen. It's going to depend on whether Gred wants it or not. If it does happen, I will add it later.

Another day, another message he sent that was read but never responded to. That was the routine in Aoba’s life lately. Get up in the morning, check his coil for a response, be crushed by disappointment when he saw nothing, drag himself out of bed, and try to live his life normally while feeling like his chest was being dragged down by an anchor.

Mizuki just wouldn’t answer him, no matter how many times he called or messaged him. And even when he tried to stop by the bar, the door was always locked. He’d tried all of Mizuki’s usual hangout spots, but he was never in any of those places, either. He gave up after the third day of searching for him and decided he’d just send him a message once a day. Surely he’d have to answer at some point.

That was what he thought, anyway. But two weeks went by without Mizuki sending even so much as an emote. Up until then, Aoba had tried to remain optimistic, but on the morning of that fifteenth day, he cracked. The last message he’d sent, ‘Please answer me’ had gone just as unanswered as all of the others, and he’d finally reached the point where he had to accept it was over. He’d lost Mizuki for good.

‘ _Come on_ ,’ came Sly’s voice. ‘ _He’s just being dramatic. He’ll get over it_.’

Aoba didn’t even acknowledge Sly had spoken. He hadn’t acknowledged him even once since that night, when he’d run crying from Mizuki’s bar. 

‘ _You’ll get over it, too_ ,’ Sly said, but his tone didn’t hold its usual confidence. Was he trying to convince Aoba or himself? ‘ _And you’ll both be thanking me later_.’

Those words were akin to an accelerant being tossed on a campfire, and Aoba angrily pushed himself up from his pillow to sit on his knees.

“Thank you?” Aoba said out loud. “You’re lucky I’m even speaking to you right now! I told you not to mess things up with Mizuki, but you-!”

Aoba’s words were cut off by the knot in his throat, and he pushed himself against the wall next to the bed before drawing his knees to his chest. His arms wrapped tightly around his legs and he hid his face behind his knees. It seemed all of the tears he’d been holding back for the past two weeks were pouring from his eyes at once.

‘ _I didn’t mess anything up_ !’ Sly said frantically, his confidence falling away completely. ‘ _You don’t get it!_ I-’  
  
“Shut up,” Aoba snapped, barely above a whisper. But then his voice grew quieter and less angry, and he just sounded hopeless. “He wouldn’t even look at me before I left that day. Whatever you said, whatever you did… you ruined everything.”

The silence that followed was long, heavy, and tense, and it only made Aoba feel worse. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. He thought he’d fixed things with both Sly and Mizuki, but now…

‘ _Aoba_ …’ Sly said, voice almost trembling. ‘ _I didn’t… I mean... I don’t_ -’

“Stop,” Aoba whispered pitifully. “Please, Sly… just stop.”

Then Sly went silent, but it didn’t help. Not at all. Aoba dragged himself out of bed, cleaned his face as best he could, and readied himself for work. Once he was ready, he left right away, making sure to call out cheerfully to his grandmother that he’d grab breakfast on the way. He didn’t want to worry her.

He spent the whole walk taking deep breaths and trying to calm down, so by the time he got there, he was able to greet Haga-san with a smile. A fake smile, but still… He even managed to do his job as usual, but the whole day he was weighed down.

Weighed down by silence.

* * *

Aoba had asked him to stop, so he did. He didn’t speak a single word and just watched Aoba go about his day, outwardly pretending nothing was wrong. But Sly didn’t have that luxury, the blissful ignorance of only seeing from the outside and believing Aoba was fine. Sly had to see and feel every nasty feeling that went through Aoba’s head, and it absolutely ate at him the entire day. 

Was Aoba right? Did he really fuck things up with Mizuki for good? Did he go too far, push too hard? He hadn’t thought Mizuki quite so fragile that he would cut Aoba off over something like this.

Those thoughts plagued Sly the entire day, and they continued to plague him late into the evening, up until Aoba fell asleep. And then everything was quiet. No more of Aoba’s terrible feelings eating away at Sly, but that was almost worse. The quiet only made it easier for Sly’s own thoughts to echo louder. The louder they became, the more they smashed against his head until his regrets were eventually replaced with anger.

Mizuki was _not_ this fragile. Sly knew it. Even after what happened with Scrap, there was no way Mizuki would be frightened off by what Sly had said to him two weeks ago. So if that wasn’t what was going on, there had to be another reason Mizuki was avoiding Aoba. Sly was fairly certain he knew what that reason was, and he’d be damned if he was going to let this go on.

Aoba might never forgive him for taking over again without his permission, but Sly needed to fix this, and he couldn’t do it from inside Aoba’s head. So he slid into place and once he was able to move their body, he climbed out of bed and immediately went to the closet to pull out some clothes. 

After dressing in a basic black t-shirt and blue jeans, he dug around for a bit to find something besides Aoba’s jacket to put on. And that was when he found it, shoved in the very back of the closet on a hanger: his old jacket. The one he always wore when he was running around as Sly Blue. Well, that was appropriate, wasn’t it? He threw it on and went straight to the window, not wanting to risk going out the front door and waking the old lady.

He shimmied his way down the side of the house and took off in a sprint, straight toward Mizuki’s bar. He encountered no one along the way, a godsend since he really didn’t want to deal with any nighttime thugs right now. And when he arrived he wasn’t surprised to find the bar locked up and all of the lights inside turned off. If he were Aoba, that might have deterred him, but he wasn’t Aoba.

He and Aoba had been up to Mizuki’s room before, so he knew about the fire escape right outside of the window. The metal ladder and stairs were old and rusty, but they held Sly’s weight as he climbed them and made his way to Mizuki’s window. The curtains were drawn, but there was a tiny gap between them, a gap wide enough for Sly to be able to look inside and see Mizuki lying on his bed fast asleep. Perfect.

Of course, the window was locked, but breaking one of the panes was easy enough, and soon, the window was open. Sly climbed into the room, taking a brief moment to think that he’d help Mizuki replace the window later. There was a much more pressing issue at hand right now. 

Sly hadn’t thought to stop and pick up any supplies, but there was a belt draped over Mizuki’s desk chair. And he couldn’t have missed the end table with a drawer right next to the bed. After snatching the belt, Sly silently pulled open the drawer and found more than he was expecting. Lube, condoms, and… Sly had to hold back a chuckle. There was a black, feathery teaser that looked quite similar to the feather duster Sly had seen inside of Mizuki’s mind. Oh, _this_ was going to be fun.

He gingerly picked up Mizuki’s arms and raised them to the head of the bed, wrapping the belt around his wrists and attaching it to the headboard. When he pulled the belt tight, Mizuki’s body jolted, and that was when those teal eyes opened. He blinked several times, seemingly trying to wake himself up, but those eyes turned as soon as Sly took a step back from the bed and reached for the lamp on the headboard. 

He clicked it on, and the light cut through the darkness of the room, fully revealing him to Mizuki. 

With wide eyes, Mizuki said, “Ao-”

He stopped himself and clarified, “Sly.”

Sly performed a mock bow. “The one and only.”

Mizuki pulled at the belt a little and asked, “What are you doing here? What the hell is this?”

Sly shrugged. “Can’t have you running away, can I?”

“Running away?” Mizuki repeated. “From what?”

Sly took a step closer and smirked. “Your punishment, of course.”

The brown blanket was covering Mizuki from about the chest down, so Sly took it and slowly, tantalizingly peeled it back, revealing more and more of Mizuki’s mostly-nude body. Mostly because he was wearing a pair of tight boxer briefs. Well, that was annoying because Sly knew Mizuki was going to make it a pain to get those off. Once he’d revealed Mizuki’s thighs, Sly flung the blanket away, and he noticed right away how Mizuki’s limp cock just barely twitched. 

“Punishment,” Mizuki said mockingly. “Are you serious?”

“Perfectly,” Sly answered, peeling off his jacket and letting it drop to the floor. “You’ve put Aoba through quite the ordeal, you know.”

Mizuki’s eyes fell, but Sly didn’t stop and went immediately for his shirt, dropping it on top of the jacket and going, next, for his belt. 

The clinking of it broke the short silence, and Sly went on, “He’s been messaging you and messaging you. He even physically went out and searched for you, and what have you been doing?” 

Mizuki’s eyes raised at that last question, and as soon as they were laid on Sly, Mizuki’s mouth opened. Sly was down to nothing but his briefs now, and he’d been a mere second from removing them. But now Mizuki’s eyes were burning holes into him, and even if he was trying to hide it behind a scowl, the hunger and desire to see more could not have been any plainer. So Sly left the briefs on and stalked over to the bed, keeping his eyes locked on Mizuki’s the whole time. 

Mizuki tensed when Sly crawled onto the bed with him and repeated his action from the previous day, running his hands from Mizuki’s knees up to his thighs. But this time, he moved his hands a little closer to the slowly-growing bulge in Mizuki’s briefs, rubbing slow circles with his thumbs, right next to Mizuki’s balls.

“It would have been easy enough to avoid _me_ ,” Sly went on, smirking at the frustration he could already see sparking in Mizuki’s eyes. “But you decided to punish Aoba for something that _I_ did.”

That last sentence came out with a venom that Sly hadn’t planned for but he certainly didn’t regret. And he followed it up by raising his fingertips to the band on Mizuki’s briefs, slipping them under it.

“So you _do_ care about Aoba?” Mizuki asked cheekily, and it pissed Sly off enough that he decided to forego slowly pulling off Mizuki’s briefs and roughly tugged. And, to his great surprise, Mizuki didn’t try to fight it. 

Well, that was interesting. He’d thought for sure Mizuki would at least put up a pretense of resisting. This turn of events pleased Sly enough that he went back to his original plan of slowly dragging those briefs down Mizuki’s legs and watching as his mostly soft cock grew a little more. 

“Of course I do,” Sly answered coolly. “More than you could possibly imagine. Why do you think I’m here?”

“To punish me?” Mizuki answered sarcastically as his briefs were pulled off of his feet and dropped to the floor. 

“No, smartass,” Sly snapped. “Why do you think I’m _here_ , inside of Aoba’s head?”

Mizuki’s eyes narrowed a bit, and Sly sighed heavily before taking a few steps to reach the end table. He pulled the drawer open again, and he saw Mizuki swallow when he pulled out the lube and the feather teaser.

“Aoba wasn’t the one who stopped those men before things went too far, was he?” Sly asked, twirling the thin handle of the teaser between his fingers. “And tell me, who took over when Mink’s constant assaults became too damn much?”

Mizuki’s eyes followed the teaser as Sly dragged the feathers from his ankle all the way up his leg, past his much fuller cock, and straight to his chest where Sly let the feathers brush over a nipple. 

Mizuki’s hands clenched, and his voice was husky when he asked, “So you were protecting him?”

“That’s right,” Sly answered. “Protecting him is the only reason I exist. Maybe I didn’t know that before, but I do now. So I’m not gonna sit here and watch you break his heart because you’re a fucking coward!”

A glare cut through Mizuki’s arousal. “Coward?”

“Yes,” Sly said sharply. “I know that _you_ know you love him. And you damn well know that he loves you. You’re just too pissing scared to take the next step.”

Sly gingerly trailed the feathers back down the center of Mizuki’s chest and let them just barely tickle the head of his cock. He watched as Mizuki tried and failed to hold back from letting his arousal show, and when Mizuki’s head leaned back, Sly felt the fire he’d been waiting for. 

“So just lay there, take your punishment, and I’ll show you that you don’t have a damn thing to be scared of.” 

He pressed the feathers down a little harder, and when Mizuki sucked in a gasp, Sly smirked and started sliding them up and down Mizuki’s shaft. He was rewarded with a quiet groan that went straight to his cock and made his hair stand on end. Fuck, that was nice. He absolutely _had_ to drag out more of those sounds.

“I’m _not_ afraid of you, Sly,” Mizuki snarled. “You’re-”

The sentence disappeared into a short moan as Sly used his free hand to gently fondle Mizuki’s balls. Being teased in two places at once seemed to overpower Mizuki’s ability to hold back since his hips instinctively raised off the bed. It took everything Sly had not to snicker.

“Of course not,” Sly answered. “You’re afraid of the beast you’re keeping caged up in that nice guy brain of yours.”

Sly finally stopped the teaser and let it drop to the mattress, eyes going wide and a toothy grin appearing on his face when he saw that Mizuki’s cock was fully erect and shimmering with precome. Gorgeous. 

He kept up his fondling with the other hand and leaned down, bringing his lips only a few inches from Mizuki’s cock. 

“But don’t worry, beautiful,” Sly breathed. “I’ll have that cage unlocked soon.”

He ducked his head lower, snaked out his tongue, and dragged it from the balls in his hand all the way to the head of Mizuki’s cock, moaning when he tasted the precome. Mizuki shuddered and Sly was treated to another groan, this one dripping with frustration. That was exactly what Sly was looking for, so he went down and did it all over again, and again, and again until Mizuki’s cock was shining from saliva and dripping with even more precome. 

Sly drew out the last lick, moving painfully slowly and keeping his eyes on Mizuki’s the whole time. He saw exactly what he was expecting to see. Mizuki’s hands were clenched tightly, his arms pulling against the belt, and his eyes absolutely molten even though he was obviously still trying his hardest to look pissed.

After lapping up some more precome, Sly purred, “Are you thinking about how nice it would be to grab a giant wad of my hair, shove my head down, and make me choke on your cock?”

Mizuki didn’t say anything, but the mixture of frustration and arousal in his eyes intensified, and he visibly pulled harder at the belt. Sly thought he actually heard the wood on the headboard creak. He silently hoped it would hold up. Not because he was afraid he’d be unable to restrain Mizuki again but because he knew if Mizuki showed him that sort of strength, he would bend right over and beg to be fucked without hesitation. And that wasn’t where he wanted things to go. At least… not yet.

“Pity,” Sly teased. “Because that belt isn’t going anywhere until you’re willing to open the cage door.”

He didn’t give Mizuki even a moment to respond and sunk down, taking Mizuki’s cock almost to the hilt, only being stopped when he gagged and had to pull back an inch. And the sound Mizuki made, fuck Sly was going to have to get his damn briefs off because his cock was far too hard and the briefs were way too tight. But that could wait for a few minutes. He had Mizuki’s cock in his mouth and he wasn’t going to waste the moment.

So he went down again and again, not even trying to be clean or quiet about it. He wanted Mizuki to see every drop of drool, hear every wet suck, and feel every moan as Sly absolutely devoured him. Every time he would gag, Mizuki would tense and a groan would rumble in his throat. God, Sly had been right. Mizuki really was perfect. Too fucking perfect.

So Sly made sure he was perfect for him, too, and kept sucking, lapping, and humming around Mizuki until the glorious moment came when he felt that cock engorge in his mouth. That, combined with a louder series of moans and several deep breaths told Sly all he needed to know. Mizuki was close, _very_ close. So Sly kept going, and going, and going until he felt Mizuki’s body reach the peak of its tension…

Then he pulled back.

What had been a quiet groan in Mizuki’s throat before turned into a full-on growl as his mind registered that he’d been denied. His body squirmed as his hands pulled at the belt, causing the wood to creak again, louder this time. And Sly absolutely reveled in it. Mizuki had never looked more tantalizing.

“You… bastard,” Mizuki snarled, his words punctuated by heavy breaths.

Sly couldn’t help but chuckle this time and answered, “Oh, beautiful. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

With that promise fresh on his lips, Sly crawled off the bed and went to the nightstand to pick up the lube. After chucking it on the bed next to Mizuki, he reached down to hook his thumbs into the band of his briefs. Keeping his eyes locked on Mizuki’s, he pulled the briefs down, inch by slow, tantalizing inch. When his cock was freed, he breathed a sigh of relief, but he had one more bit of cruel teasing for the helpless Mizuki. When the briefs were low enough, he turned his back to Mizuki and made a show of slowly bending over to slide them to his ankles. He stood back up even slower, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he could see his little show had had the desired effect. Mizuki was definitely going to have some very lovely whelps on his arms from pulling so hard, and now he was going to have a bite mark bruise on his lower lip, as well. God, if Mizuki bit his lip any harder, Sly was sure he would break the skin.

“Just a little preview of what’s to come,” Sly said cheekily. “But I’m sure you’re already thinking of how you’d love to get your hands on a flogger and whip my ass until it’s beat red. Am I right?”

Mizuki still didn’t answer, but the wood creaked louder and his eyebrows ran more tightly together. Sly smirked at him even if, on the inside, he was a tiny bit disappointed. As fun as this was, he’d trade it, in an instant, for Mizuki giving in to his urges. Oh well. He’d just have to try harder. 

“So stubborn,” Sly teased. “But if you want to keep playing, that’s fine with me.”

And Sly had the perfect idea of how to tease Mizuki next. He climbed back onto the bed, threw his leg over Mizuki, and sat down right on his lower stomach. Mizuki’s cock twitched against Sly’s lower back, and it brought another cocky grin to Sly’s face. He didn’t think he’d ever been this turned on in his life, which was fortunate for what he had planned next.

He reached for the bottle of lube and popped the lid open before coating two of his fingers. He braced himself against Mizuki’s chest with his dry hand while he reached his other hand around and brought those wet fingers to his own rim. When he felt the first finger press inside, he didn’t hold back his moan at all and even rolled his hips to make the breach easier. Shit… so good. It had been way too long since Sly had felt this.

He moved that finger in and out slowly, not for his own sake but for Aoba’s. Sly might get off on rougher preparation, but after what happened with Mink, Sly wasn’t about to leave Aoba with any lingering pain once this was over. So he was painstakingly gentle and slow with his stretching, which he quickly found was a net positive when he saw Mizuki’s hands twitching. But not just that, his eyes were desperately looking down at Sly’s fingers, obviously trying to get a better look.  
  
Well, Sly’s unspoken rule was that Mizuki couldn’t touch. He’d never set any rules about looking.

“Do you want to see?” Sly asked in a sultry tone that wasn’t entirely forced. “All right. I think I can let you have that.”

Sly did a quick turn so that his ass was a mere few inches from Mizuki’s face, but with such close proximity he would have to make sure Mizuki didn’t try anything. 

“Look but don’t touch, beautiful,” Sly ordered with a glance over his shoulder. “Or I’ll get dressed and leave you like this for your friends to find in the morning.”

Mizuki’s eyes screamed ‘You wouldn’t dare’ but that look vanished quickly when Sly kept his gaze stern and unmoving. It was easy enough to do because Sly wasn’t even remotely bluffing. As much as he was aching for Mizuki to fuck him, he wasn’t going to give even an inch until Mizuki did. And if that meant leaving and continuing this at a later date, Sly could live with that.

Sly saw the resignation coming over Mizuki’s face even as he looked like he was ready to pummel Sly into the dirt. _Mmm. Lovely. Keep getting frustrated, Mizuki._

His fingers had dried a little during the brief reprieve, so he recoated them and added a little extra to his rim for good measure. Then he braced himself with a hand on Mizuki’s thigh and bent down, exposing his wet rim to Mizuki only seconds before sliding his fingers back to breach it again. He’d prepared himself well enough before to be able to insert two fingers right away, and the extra fullness had his eyes rolling back. Goddamn, he’d definitely have to play this sort of game with Mizuki again. Soon, ideally.

When those fingers were buried to the knuckles, he pulled them back an inch and started gently scissoring in an attempt to open himself up with as little pain as possible. Even as he was absolutely dying for something rougher. Well, might as well use that feeling for something.

“Mmm,” Sly moaned shamelessly. “Fuck… Wouldn’t it be nice if these were _your_ fingers?”

The wood creaked again, but that was secondary to the deep, guttural growl that rumbled in Mizuki’s throat. 

With a smirk, Sly went on, “You’d like that wouldn’t you? Burying your fingers in me, spreading me open, and absolutely ruining me for anyone else.”

There was no verbal response from Mizuki this time, but his body tensing and his cock almost jumping was all the response Sly needed. He licked his lips as a new idea came to him, one that he could come just thinking about.

Then Sly’s fingers hit a really nice spot inside, and his toes curled as a loud moan launched from his lips. Speaking of coming, he was going to get there soon if he kept hitting that spot, so he reluctantly pulled his fingers back a little. He had to remember that getting himself prepared was the more important thing, right now. 

He was about ready to start working in a third finger, so he did a quick recoat with the lube, but before he reached his fingers back, he glanced over his shoulder. And, fuck, was he happy he did. There was not an ounce of patience left on Mizuki’s face. Right about now, he was resembling a wolf chained to a tree, staring down a haunch of meat that was just barely out of reach.

Sly just flashed him another cocky grin. There was no need to say anything else right now, and his mouth was about to be very busy, anyway. But, first thing’s first… 

“Ahh!” Sly cried out as his fingers pushed past his rim again.

He scissored the two fingers for only a couple of seconds before he wiggled in the third finger and started slower, shallow thrusts to make room. God, three fingers was even better, and it only made Sly harder when he thought of how amazing Mizuki’s cock was going to feel. He was bigger than those three fingers. 

Sly shuddered and let out a moan before he sunk down on Mizuki’s cock again and took it almost to the hilt again. The moan Mizuki let out was loud and with a hint of shock, and it had Sly chuckling a little. Caught him off guard, huh? Perfect. 

He went to work on Mizuki’s cock just as he had before while simultaneously fingering his hole, the wet sounds of his sucks mixing with the lewd squelching of his fingers. It was tricky to focus on both things at once, but he managed, and soon enough all three fingers were sliding in and out of him with ease.  
  
And Mizuki, he’d apparently given up on staying quiet because he was openly groaning, and when Sly stole a quick glance at him, his eyes were hyperfocused on Sly’s ass. Sly’s pleased hum vibrated in his throat, and that seemed to be the last push Mizuki needed since his cock engorged all over again and those lovely sounds came pouring from him. But not yet. Sly wasn’t ready to let him come just yet.

So when Mizuki reached that wonderful, euphoric edge, Sly pulled away again, and Mizuki was much quieter about it than Sly had expected him to be. 

Sly took another look at Mizuki and found he was biting down on his lip again, but this time his eyes were squeezed shut, too, and his fists were so tightly clenched the skin was paled. Well, that was it. That was as much as Sly could take. All things considered, he thought he’d done pretty well holding himself back, so far. So he’d count it as a win.

“God _damn_ ,” Sly mumbled. “You’re just… incredible.”

Mizuki’s eyes shot open, and he looked up at Sly, a little confusion peeking through the overwhelming arousal. Sly answered it with another smirk and turned to face Mizuki properly, groaning a little when he felt his hot cock against his lower back. He rolled his hips again as he reached for the lube one more time. He applied a generous coating first to his rim and then to Mizuki’s cock, and Mizuki’s hips jolted with every brush of Sly’s wet fingers.

They were ready, but Sly had one more thing he wanted before he went on. He bent over, bringing his face close enough to Mizuki’s to bump their noses. He was searching Mizuki’s eyes for the anger he’d seen a few weeks ago, the last time he’d gotten this close to kissing him. And he didn’t see it. Mizuki was still pissed, of course. That much was obvious, but not in the same way. So Sly decided it wouldn’t hurt to try. 

He closed the short distance and planted a rough, dirty kiss on Mizuki’s lips. Mizuki didn’t pull away, but nor did he go along with it. Not that Sly had expected him to. Sly wasn’t the one Mizuki wanted to kiss right now, and Sly was fine with that. As long as he got to bite down on that bruised bottom lip and pull on it as he broke the one-sided kiss.

And the moment the kiss was broken, Sly sat up, adjusted Mizuki, and let gravity do the rest. He was so well prepped that the slide was nearly seamless, and once Mizuki was fully sheathed, Sly took a moment. Not just because he didn’t _want_ to give Mizuki too much too fast, but because he had to talk himself down from doing so. It felt so damn good, so much better than Sly had been expecting, and his every instinct was telling him to start riding that cock to the moon.

But he calmed himself. He calmed himself because he knew if he wanted to have a hope of Mizuki giving in, he had to keep his head. And one look at Mizuki’s face told Sly he probably wouldn’t have to push much harder. Mizuki’s eyes were wide, wild, and Sly could swear he was seeing the leather belt actually breaking Mizuki’s skin from how hard he was pulling. The beast was just about ready to break free, and Sly’s heart thumped with more excitement than he’d ever felt in his life.

He gave a few experimental rolls of his hips in order to get better adjusted, and once he felt confident enough that there would be no lingering pain, he started short, shallow bounces. And it was heavenly. No, better than that. What was better than heaven? He didn’t know and he didn’t care enough to think about it too much. 

“Shit…” Sly said, barely above a whisper. “Feels so fucking good.”

Mizuki didn’t just moan this time. His hips bucked, forcing his cock in a little deeper and making Sly’s eyes roll back. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. 

“You like that don’t you, beautiful?” Sly asked breathily. “But it’s not enough, is it?”

Sly followed up by increasing the pace and depth of his bouncing, sliding Mizuki’s dick in just as far as it had gone during that buck. Over and over, Sly let Mizuki hit the deepest parts of him until he started feeling Mizuki tense up again. 

“You don’t want to just lay there and take it, do you?” Sly went on. “You want to grab me by my hair, shove me down, and fuck me until I’m a puddle at your feet. Isn’t that right?”

The very thought was enough to make Sly want to come all over Mizuki’s chest. Being grabbed, thrown around, roughed up, and absolutely wrecked. Fuck, it was almost-

“Yes.”

That word cut right through Sly’s thoughts and had his movements screeching to a halt. He looked down at Mizuki, heart thumping a little.  
  
“What was that?” Sly asked, truly curious if he’d heard him correctly.

“You heard me,” Mizuki stated firmly. “The cage is open, you masochistic prick, so untie me.”

Sly thought his heart might stop, but not from the words themselves. Mizuki could have easily faked those. There was no faking that absolutely fraught tone in Mizuki’s voice, the one that let Sly know that he was _in_ for it as soon as Mizuki was free.  
  
And fuck, he’d never wanted to be in for it more in his life.

So he reached for the belt and unhooked it, internally wincing when he saw that Mizuki had, in fact, broken the skin with all of his tugging. But Mizuki either didn’t notice or didn’t care because the very second his hands were free, one of them was grasping Sly’s wrist.  
  
And then Sly was face-down on the bed, one of Mizuki’s hands pressing into his head and shoving his face into the pillows while the other one was wildly grasping at one of the other pillows to tear off the case. Sly’s heart thumped harder as he thought maybe he was about to be gagged, but instead, Mizuki roughly yanked both of Sly’s arms behind his back and used the pillowcase to clumsily tie his wrists together. Clumsily, but tightly. Sly honestly didn’t think he’d be able to escape even if he wanted to, and that thrilled him more than he could say.

But he still thought Mizuki could be rougher, so he chuckled and taunted, “Is that all you’ve got? Some beast. I’m-”

A loud, piercing smack echoed in the room and cut off Sly’s words as Mizuki brought that belt down on Sly’s ass and had Sly half-screaming into the pillow. _Oh god. Oh god, yes!_

“If you didn’t share that body with Aoba…” Mizuki snarled, the threat not sounding even remotely empty. 

Nothing in Sly’s life had ever hit him as hard as those words did, and they brought him dangerously close to coming even though he hadn’t even been touched yet.

“What would you do?” Sly asked, the end of the sentence disappearing into another euphoric cry as Mizuki hit him again, the belt striping his thighs this time. 

Then Mizuki’s hand was in his hair, roughly yanking his head back and straining his neck as Mizuki leaned down to bite his ear, hard. The hand holding the belt also came forward and Mizuki let the leather lightly brush against Sly’s cheek.

“This would be around your neck,” Mizuki answered. “To shut you the hell up.”

Fuck. Shouldn’t have asked. Because now Sly wanted nothing more than for Mizuki to do that, to wrap that belt around his neck and choke him to near unconsciousness while fucking him into the mattress. But they couldn’t do that. They couldn’t do anything that would leave long-lasting, exposed marks without at least asking Aoba first. Sly was already going far enough without Aoba’s permission. 

But he wasn’t about to let that kill the mood, so he shook his hips and said, “Well, you can still fuck me until I’m a puddle at your feet.”

“Tch. Like I even need your permission, at this point,” Mizuki retorted, and it made Sly’s heart absolutely leap. The beast really was out, and Sly silently hoped Mizuki would never lock it up again.

“Are you done talking?” Sly asked sarcastically, and he was rewarded with a sharp pull to his hair that made his cock positively throb.

“Cheeky fuck,” Mizuki growled. “Think I’ll gag you next time.”

Sly heard the sound of the lube’s lid popping open. He felt the lovely stroking of his rim as Mizuki gave his rim another coat. And he shivered at the slippery sound of Mizuki lubing up his cock. But Sly’s mind was far more focused on those two simple words.  
  
Next time.

So when Mizuki lined up his cock and pushed inside, actual tears leaked from Sly’s eyes. This wouldn’t be the last time. He hadn’t driven Mizuki away. Thank goodness. He really hadn’t wanted Aoba to be right.

“Sly?”

Sly blinked a couple of times and threw on a grin as he glanced over his shoulder. “What is it, beautiful?”

A hand dipped into his hair, and he braced himself for a pull, but then that hand moved down to gently brush his cheek, coming away wet with the tears that had just fallen. The inflamed look in Mizuki’s eyes was suddenly gone and he, instead, looked horrified.

“Was I too rough with you?” he asked frantically. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Sly was, at first, so taken aback by Mizuki’s words that it completely tied his tongue. But then Mizuki’s hands flew to the pillowcase and he started desperately fumbling with the knot. That was when Sly snapped back to attention and jerked his wrists away to stop Mizuki before he actually untied him.

“Hey, will you calm down?” Sly quickly told him. “You haven’t done anything wrong. I’m fine.”

Some of the panic quieted, but Mizuki still said, “But… you were crying.”

Sly just barely held back a groan. Not at Mizuki, but at himself for not doing a better job hiding his pesky feelings. _His_ feelings weren’t what mattered here.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Sly assured him. “So stop worrying about it.”

That hand was back in his hair again, stroking gently before Mizuki said, “I’m not gonna sit here and ignore the fact that you’re crying. I’m not that kind of a guy, and I think you know that.”

Yeah. Sly did know that. He knew that his gentleness far exceeded his capacity for being a beast, but…

“Spare me the good guy attitude,” Sly told him plainly. “We both know I’m not the one you want to be gentle and kind with, and I’m fine with that. So will you let this go, already?”

There was a long pause, far too long. And then Sly gasped when Mizuki not only pulled out but actually did untie his wrists this time. Before Sly could get out a single protest, Mizuki had flipped him over and planted a deep, heavy kiss right on his lips. In an instant, Sly’s mind went blank and he couldn’t even manage to kiss Mizuki back. Hang on, what? Just what in the fuck was Mizuki doing?

Sly’s cheeks burned and he tried to pull away, but a hand in his hair held his head firmly in place. So all he could do was lie there and endure it as Mizuki devoured his lips and stole every breath he tried to take.

After a few seconds, Mizuki pulled back on his own, and he looked down at Sly with a tenderness Sly neither expected or wanted. It made a knot form in his throat and he averted his eyes quickly.

“Don’t,” Sly said, voice strained. “For fuck’s sake, don’t look at me like that. I’m not Aoba.”

“And?” Mizuki said. “You’re part of him. You said that yourself.”

“Yeah? So?”

“And you also said that I love Aoba.”  
  
Sly’s patience was wearing thin, so he practically shouted, “Get to the point, Mizuki!”

“If I love Aoba, how can I not love you, too?!”

Sly froze, his every muscle locking up right after his eyes opened wider than they ever had. What… did Mizuki just say?

“Hmm,” Mizuki hummed, a warm smile on his face. “Maybe I don’t need a gag after all if that’s all it takes to shut you up.”

The knot in Sly’s throat came out in force when he snapped, “You think this is funny, asshole!?”

Mizuki shrugged. “Little bit.”

There was not an ounce of arousal left in Sly’s body. It had been replaced entirely with anger and another, much stronger feeling: fear. So he shoved his hands into Mizuki’s chest and pushed, trying like hell to make him move. No. There was _no_ fucking way Sly was gonna lay here and listen to this. He was _not_ going to get his hopes up for something he wasn’t actually going to get.  
  
“Get the hell off me,” Sly half-whimpered. “I’m leaving.”

But Mizuki just grabbed Sly’s wrists and easily pinned them above his head. And when Sly tried to kick, Mizuki forced his legs between Sly’s and pushed them apart, stopping any further squirming. And it set Sly’s heart to absolutely racing, but not in the good way. In the way that made it difficult to breathe.

“Let me go!” Sly cried. 

“Nope.”

Sly fought harder, throwing as much of his body weight as he could against Mizuki’s grip, but Mizuki didn’t even budge. 

Tears Sly had been desperately holding back came pouring from his eyes, and he roared, “Why are you doing this!? You said you’d _never_ go for someone like me!”

“I didn’t mean it!” Mizuki shouted back, his face plastered with a mixture of guilt and desperation.

Sly stilled again, and while tears were still escaping him, it was suddenly quite a bit easier to breathe. 

“Didn’t… mean it?”

Guilt became shame as Mizuki averted his eyes and sighed heavily. “You were… pushing buttons I didn’t want pushed and trying to make me face things I didn’t want to face. So I got pissed and said what I thought would make you back off.”

Mizuki paused after that, eyes darting back and forth against the nearby wall as if he was trying to think of what else he wanted to say. It took a few more seconds, but he eventually turned back to Sly and flashed a slightly pained smile.

“After Aoba left that day, I didn’t know what to do, so I did nothing,” Mizuki admitted, shame still plain on his face. “So I guess you were right about me being a coward. I was scared absolutely shitless.”

Sly found himself laughing a little at that, and the pain in Mizuki’s smile lessened in response. A hand moved gingerly through Sly’s hair again, but this time, he didn’t feel discomforted by it. 

“Even after you showed up here, I was still trying to deny it, right to the end,” Mizuki went on. “I was so freaking scared of what you were trying to pull out of me. But damn… you really can take it, can’t you?”

More heat stung Sly’s cheeks, and he beamed with just a little bit too much pride. He managed a smirk and answered, “Didn’t I tell you that you don’t have a damn thing to be scared of?”

Mizuki chuckled lightly. “Yeah. I guess you did.”

Sly shook his wrists a little, silently asking to be released, and Mizuki complied this time. He then threw his arms around Mizuki’s neck and dragged him right into another kiss, this one so much sweeter since they were both participating. Loud, wet, and lewd smacks echoed in the quiet room as the kiss deepened and when Sly dared to push his tongue past Mizuki’s lips, Mizuki ground his hips forward. Their softened cocks pressed together, and Sly had to break the kiss so his head could fly backward. He moaned, much louder than he’d been expecting. It was weak stimulation compared to the things he’d done earlier, but it somehow felt even better.

And it only became even more intense when Mizuki intentionally ground his hips again and Sly’s cock stood right back up as if it had never fallen limp in the first place. After a few more ruts, Mizuki was brought back to attention, as well, and he was back to staring down at Sly with that hunger that had been banished from his eyes earlier.

“We back on track?” Sly teased.

Mizuki answered with a vicious tug to Sly’s hair and a sharp bite to his ear that left Sly writhing and raising his hips off the bed. 

After dragging his tongue from the bite mark down to Sly’s earlobe, Mizuki mumbled, “Roll the fuck over, and hold on to the headboard. You’re gonna need it.”

Sly couldn’t remember ever moving as fast as he did then, getting into position within only a split second. He heard the popping of the lube’s lid and turned to see Mizuki lubing himself up again with fire in his eyes. He put some on his fingers, too, and Sly groaned at the final coating of his rim before Mizuki lined himself up. 

“You’re lucky I’m so damn wound up and out of patience,” Mizuki warned. “Because after the shit you put me through earlier, you’ve earned some torture.”

Sly smirked and pushed back against Mizuki’s cock, letting out a pleased sigh when the head just barely breached him. 

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, beautiful.”

Another loud slap, but this time the belt came down across his back, and that was when Sly understood why Mizuki told him to hold the headboard because Sly very nearly crumpled. 

“Nevermind,” Mizuki bit back. “I’m definitely gonna gag your ass.”

Then he drove himself inside of Sly the rest of the way, and Sly was just about to think of a snarky retort when Mizuki started a wild, rough pace that made all of his thoughts turn to mush. There was absolutely no grace to his movements. This was raw desperation and need, and it set Sly's veins ablaze.

But it could be better still, and Sly knew how to make it better. He used his grip on the bed as leverage and pushed back against Mizuki the next time he thrusted forward. Mizuki let out a deep moan and had to grab Sly’s hips to steady himself.

“Come on, Mizuki,” Sly purred with a glance over his shoulder. “You can do better than that. Where’s that beast you let out earlier?”

He felt the snap in Mizuki as if it were his own, and Mizuki’s hand was in his hair. Only this time he wasn’t pushing him down. He was yanking him away from the headboard while his other hand grabbed one of Sly’s arms. He physically dragged Sly off of the bed, and everything moved so fast after that that Sly didn’t even register where he was being dragged until his face was roughly pushed into a wall, only a few feet from the bed. 

Then the hand on his head wrapped a huge wad of his hair around it and yanked his head back at the exact moment Mizuki drove himself back inside. His thrusts were just as wild as they’d been before, but then another loud smack echoed in the room, then another, then another. And with every further strike against his back, Sly cried out louder and louder until Mizuki had to drop the belt and close a hand over Sly’s mouth to muffle a full-on scream.

This… This was it. This was what was better than heaven. 

Mizuki didn’t bother to pick the belt back up, opting instead to reach that hand around to pump wildly at Sly’s cock. There was no way Sly was going to last after all of that, so it took him only a few short seconds before he was biting the back of his own wrist to hold back another scream and spraying cum all over Mizuki’s wall. 

He felt himself squeezing around Mizuki, so he knew for certain Mizuki felt it, too. And that became even more apparent when his thrusts became even less coordinated and all lucidity vanished from his eyes. He was chasing his orgasm, and fuck was Sly ready for it.

“That’s right, beautiful,” Sly praised. “Take what you want.”

The hand holding his hair pulled even harder, and Sly’s nails dug into the drywall when he felt Mizuki swell inside of him. It took him only a few more thrusts before he was letting out rough, deep, and guttural grunts and shooting off inside of Sly. 

The hand in his hair immediately released, and Sly gasped when Mizuki seemed to lose every ounce of strength in his body and flopped against the wall with both hands, effectively trapping Sly between his arms. Not that that was a problem, of course. Sly simply turned around, releasing a satisfied hum when Mizuki slipped out of him. He could feel the cum dripping out of him and down his leg, but he’d worry about that in a little bit.

Right now, he had a very worn out beast to take care of. 

He wrapped an arm around Mizuki’s waist and let him lean on him as they went back to the bed. Mizuki flopped right down and closed his eyes, looking like he fell right asleep. After covering him from the waist down, Sly decided he’d better head to the bathroom to at least clean himself out. Aoba was going to find out about this either way, but there was no sense in leaving a huge mess along with the whelps and restraint marks.

It took longer than he’d anticipated. Mizuki must have been pent up because this was an insane amount of cum. But he eventually managed to get it all, and once he was done, he decided to stop at the full body mirror behind the bathroom door to take a look at the damage.  
  
All things considered, it wasn’t that bad. The whelps on his ass, thighs, and back would probably disappear in a few days, and the restraint marks on his wrists even faster still. Now the soreness in Aoba’s scalp was another thing, entirely. That would probably last for a while, but he was sure Aoba would forgive him once he learned that Mizuki was theirs now.  
  
Theirs. Sly grinned. That had a nice ring to it. He’d been so sure Mizuki would be only Aoba’s, but…

“Sly?”

Sly blinked and immediately reached for the door. That call of his name sounded quite desperate. As soon as the door opened and he set eyes on Mizuki, he found he was right. He was sat up in the bed with wide open eyes.

“Oh calm down,” Sly teased. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Mizuki smiled warmly and held a hand out to Sly, silently asking him to come back to the bed. Sly smiled back and approached, taking the hand without hesitation and gasping when Mizuki yanked him down. He immediately threw both arms around Sly and pulled him against his chest, forcing Sly to have to turn his head so that he could breathe properly.

“Ugh, you clingy prick,” Sly grumbled with his cheek pressed against Mizuki’s collarbone. “I could have climbed in the bed by myself.”

“Yeah, yeah. Shut up,” Mizuki said dismissively. “I wasn’t taking any chances.”

Sly rolled his eyes, but he had to admit that this was actually kind of nice. So he wiggled a little to re-adjust his position and get more comfortable. And once they were both still, the room went silent for several long moments. It wasn’t an awkward or tense silence. It was just… warm. Welcoming. 

But it was broken quickly enough by Mizuki asking, “So what was your plan exactly, Sly? Were you planning on just being, what? A fucktoy for me to use whenever I wanted some rough sex?”

Sly tensed, a lot. He hadn’t expected Mizuki to ask him such a question, so he wasn’t even remotely prepared for it. His mouth sealed shut, and he buried his face in Mizuki’s chest, deciding he’d let his silence be his answer.

Mizuki sighed. “Did you really think I’d go for that? Do I strike you as the kind of guy who would just use someone for sex?”

That last sentence felt like a stab to Sly’s gut, and he scrambled to say, “No! I don’t… I just…”

He let out a frustrated growl and shook his head. He wasn’t good at this… Talking about how he felt and shit. This wasn’t what he did.

But he knew Mizuki wasn’t going to let this go until he said something, so he took a deep breath and made himself go on. “I just didn’t think you’d want me this way is all. I’m not exactly the easiest person to deal with.”

Mizuki went quiet for a few seconds, but then he snorted out a laugh and tightened his grip on Sly. Sly’s cheeks burned, and he’d never wanted to sink into the floor so badly.

“You’re ridiculous is what you are,” Mizuki said gently. “But that’s okay. I am, too.”

Sly sighed. “Well, at least you admit it.”

Mizuki chuckled again, but it was almost immediately followed by a sigh of his own. Sly looked up at him and cocked his head to the side.  
  
“What’s wrong?”

Mizuki covered his eyes with his hand. “I was just thinking about how we’re gonna have to explain all of this to Aoba. I got super carried away earlier, and now…”

Sly smirked and closed his eyes. “What’s this ‘we?’ I’m gonna be sleeping.”

Mizuki tensed up and immediately said, “The hell you are! This was mostly your fault, you know. You’re not leaving me alone to deal with this.”

“Goodnight, Mizuki.”  
  
“Sly, don’t you dare! I swear, I’ll-”

Mizuki went off into a tangent, listing off threats that Sly only caught one or two of. Unsurprisingly, they sounded less like things that would deter Sly and more like things that would encourage him.  
  
Eventually, Mizuki’s voice went quiet as Sly drifted off to sleep, feeling more satisfied than he ever had in his life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I'm still a liar. Gred decided she didn't necessarily NEED this chapter...
> 
> But I did. I needed this shameless fluff. So here we are. XD

When Aoba came to, the very first thing he noticed was how unusually hot he felt. He verbally groaned as he thought that he must have left his window open and let in the summer night heat. He yawned, but as soon as he raised his hands to rub his eyes, he felt something that made his eyes fly open and his whole body freeze. There was a weight on the bed behind him, but not only that, something was draped over him. His eyes flew down, and he gasped at the sight of a brown blanket that clearly wasn’t his and a tanned arm lying on top of it. 

His heart started immediately pounding, and he rolled over, choking on a gasp when he saw who the arm belonged to.  
  
“Mizuki?” Aoba mumbled.

His eyes were closed, and his only reaction to his name was a slight twitch of his lips. Aoba’s flight response kicked right in, and he frantically climbed out of the bed, backing away until he hit a wall. His gaze darted about the room, a room he recognized as Mizuki’s. What… the hell was this? What was he doing here? 

He raised a hand to his head on instinct, and the moment he did, he felt a sharp pain. Not like a headache, but a physical pain in his scalp. And then he caught a glimpse of his wrist. His mouth hung open and a chill ran through his body at the sight of a ring-shaped bruise on it. 

Several heavy breaths escaped him as his next instinct was to check the rest of his body. That was when he noticed he was completely naked, and his hands flew to his mouth. His sleep-addled mind finally put all of the pieces together, and he fell against the wall behind him, wincing again at another sharp pain.  
  
Panicked, he tried to look over his shoulder to see what was causing the pain, but he couldn’t see anything. So he rushed to the bathroom, knowing Mizuki had a full-length mirror in there. He turned his back to the mirror and his eyes misted over at the sight of at least a dozen large red whelps covering his back, ass, and thighs. His breathing became erratic and he stumbled backward, falling against a shelf that was promptly knocked from the wall, spilling its contents onto the floor. 

A bottle of cologne was one of the things the fell, and Aoba accidentally stepped on it, slipping and falling backward and barely catching himself on the bathtub in time to keep from roughly hitting the floor. But that was all of the strength his arms had, and he still flopped completely limp against the tub, one of his elbows propped on it while his other arm lay lifeless on his thigh. This was a dream. It had to be. He was gonna wake up any second in his own bed. Trying to make that happen, he closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. Wake up. Wake up, Aoba.

Then he heard footsteps rapidly approaching, and the sound of the bathroom door flying open was followed by Mizuki’s voice calling out, “Sly? Are you-?”

Aoba’s eyes flew open, and he looked up at a wide-eyed and _very_ naked Mizuki. Their eyes met, and Mizuki’s shock turned to dread as his brain registered what was going on.

“Crap,” Mizuki muttered. “Aoba?”

A painful knot had formed in Aoba’s throat, so he just barely choked out, “You… You said Sly.”

That was when Aoba fully understood, and the weight of that realization crashed down on him harder than anything he’d ever felt in his life. He hadn’t known he could feel this level of utterly consuming betrayal.

He shook his head, pushed his arm against the tub, and tried shakily to stand up. He had to leave. He had to leave now, run away, and never look back. Mink was still out there, somewhere. He could still go look for him like he’d planned to before and leave this life behind. It had to be better than this. It had to be.

He made it to his feet, but Mizuki had already closed the gap between them, taking his shoulders and quickly saying, “Aoba.”

Aoba tried to shrug off his grip. “Let me go.”

Mizuki gripped him a little tighter. “Just hold on. Let me explain.”

Aoba shot Mizuki a glare that held every ounce of the anger and betrayal he was feeling. Mizuki actually flinched and let go.  
  
“Explain?” Aoba growled. “What the hell is there to explain? Sly took over, and you had sex with him. Both of you… You just used my body without even asking me if it was okay!”

Aoba’s teeth ground together as the tears flowed from his eyes like a water hose. This had happened to him before. Someone using his body, hurting him, and not caring whether he wanted it or not. At least when Mink had done it, it had been for a purpose, and Aoba had known it was going on. But this… 

“How could you?” Aoba asked pitifully. “Mizuki… I thought you…”

He wasn’t even going to finish that sentence. There was no point. This whole thing had just proven what Aoba already knew. Things between him and Mizuki were never going to be fixed. It really was over for good.

He pushed past Mizuki, trying to head out to the bedroom to find whatever clothes Sly had worn here. But he only made it a step outside of the bathroom door when his sore wrist was suddenly caught by a strong hand. He glared at Mizuki again and tried to twist his wrist and make him let go.  
  
“Get off me!” Aoba snapped. “We’re done!”

“Aoba, please,” Mizuki begged. “Just wait. I know we shouldn’t have done this without your permission, but-”

“There is no ‘but’ Mizuki!” Aoba roared. “You used me! You didn’t even care that I-”

“I love you!”

Aoba froze again, those words hanging in the air for several long moments as the room went uncomfortably quiet. Had he heard those words a few days ago, they might have made him fall immediately into Mizuki’s arms, but now they felt more like a slap to the face. He pulled harder against Mizuki’s grip and even brought his other hand over to dig his nails into Mizuki’s visibly injured wrist.  
  
Mizuki hissed, released his grip, and Aoba roughly shoved him back with both hands, tears still streaming from his eyes. “Are you fucking serious? You completely ignore me for two weeks, use my body to fuck Sly, and now… _Now_ you’re saying that?”

Mizuki’s eyes fell to the floor, as he rubbed at his injured wrist. “It’s… not what you think.”

“Then what the fuck is it, Mizuki? Why did you and Sly do this? What justification are you giving yourselves?”

Mizuki took a step back and both of his hands dropped to his side, clenching into tight fists. Aoba followed his arms up to his face and swallowed heavily when he saw the look in Mizuki’s eyes. There were so many emotions there, but the one standing out most was guilt.

“Justification?” Mizuki repeated. “None. Sly showed up here and did what he did because I was being a coward.”

A minute ago, Aoba had been ready to punch Mizuki in the face, get dressed, leave, and never look back. But the desperation and hopelessness in his voice combined with the heavy guilt in his eyes put a damper on Aoba’s anger.

He let down his guard only a little and said, “Coward?”

Mizuki nodded and kept his eyes averted as he walked past Aoba and went to the closet. He opened it and pulled out a black blanket before walking up behind Aoba and dropping it over his shoulders. Aoba grabbed it on instinct, used it to cover himself, and turned in time to see Mizuki motioning toward the bed.

“Will you at least hear me out?” Mizuki asked. “If you decide you don’t like what you hear, and you want to leave… I won’t try to stop you. I promise.”

He spoke those last few words with a deep regret that made Aoba’s chest sting. He was still mad, but Mizuki wasn’t trying to force anything, so…

“Okay,” Aoba answered. 

Mizuki was visibly relieved, and while it eased some of the tension in the room, Aoba wasn’t entirely comfortable yet. Mizuki must have sensed that since, after Aoba sat down on the bed, Mizuki picked up all of their clothes, brought Aoba’s to the bed, and slipped on his own jeans. Then he pulled up the nearby desk chair and sat across from Aoba.

Then Mizuki just started talking. Aoba listened intently, at first pulling the blanket tightly around him. But the more Mizuki talked, and the more Aoba understood, the more relaxed he became. His burning anger he’d been feeling only a few moments ago slowly melted away and was eventually replaced with deep, overwhelming relief.

When Mizuki finished his explanation, Aoba released his tight hold on the blanket and let his hands fall into his lap. It was a lot to hear at once. Sly revealing to Mizuki what happened with Mink, finding out about Mizuki’s hidden desires, learning that Sly had been trying to protect him from those desires… Aoba suddenly felt a little guilty himself for overreacting, but he couldn’t regret it too much since Sly and Mizuki had gone about this in the worst way possible.

“So you both decided, on your own, that I wouldn’t be able to handle your “darker side” because of what happened with Mink,” Aoba deadpanned. “ _Your_ solution was to avoid me, and _Sly’s_ solution was to come here, show you _he_ could handle it, and then basically offer himself up as a fuck toy. Do I have that right?”

Mizuki’s hand came up to scratch the back of his head. “Shit, it sounds really dumb when you lay it all out like that.”

“That’s because it _is_ dumb!” Aoba scolded. “What were you…?”

Aoba couldn’t even finish the sentence and let it disappear into a heavy sigh. Morons. They were a couple of freaking morons.

“Look, Aoba,” Mizuki said gently. “I know you’re not made of glass. It was stupid for me to think that you were. But... you don’t like pain either, do you?”

Aoba’s fingers wound together and he stared down at the floor. He couldn’t exactly say that he did, but he didn’t want to say that he didn’t, either. He didn’t want Mizuki to feel the need to keep any part of himself locked away for Aoba’s sake.

So he settled for saying, “I can take it.”

He heard Mizuki stand up and approach, so he raised his head to look at him. Mizuki had a gentle grin on his face when he reached a hand out to lightly rest against Aoba’s cheek. Aoba’s heart jumped and he felt that annoying flutter in his chest that always came when he thought about Mizuki.

“You can take it, but you don’t like it,” Mizuki said. “Why would I want to do things to you that you don’t like?”

Some of the panic from earlier was returning, and Aoba impulsively said, “But I don’t want you to only ever be with Sly! I want to-”

He caught himself before he finished that second sentence, but one look at Mizuki’s smug face told him that the damage had already been done. His cheeks burned and he looked away with an annoyed scowl on his face.

Mizuki chuckled lightly and his other hand came up to join the first one. Then he turned Aoba’s face up, leaned in, and covered Aoba’s lips with a soft yet also deep kiss that made Aoba’s eyes shoot open wider and his breath hitch. Every single movement of Mizuki’s lips was tender, gentle, a stark contrast to Aoba’s sore scalp and striped back.

He didn’t linger anywhere near long enough in Aoba’s opinion and pulled back after only a few seconds to say, “Do you really think I wouldn’t want to be with you just because you don’t like it rough? I’m not _that_ shallow.”

Aoba’s eyes dropped again, partially from embarrassment, but also because he wasn’t entirely convinced. It wasn’t that he thought Mizuki was shallow or anything like that, but…

“You won’t enjoy it as much, though, will you?” Aoba asked. “If I can’t do the things that Sly does for you.”

Mizuki flashed a half-smile before moving to sit down next to Aoba on the bed. Then he wrapped his arm around Aoba’s shoulders and pulled him closer so that his head was resting on Mizuki's shoulder.

He placed a soft kiss on Aoba’s forehead and said, “Aoba, if we’re doing something you like, you can bet your ass I’m gonna enjoy the hell out of it just because you are. Liking it one way doesn’t mean I can’t like it another way.”

Aoba’s mouth was open with an answer, but he closed it after Mizuki’s words really registered. He hadn’t thought of it that way, but having a preference doesn’t mean you dislike other things. Still, part of him was doubting, a little. Judging by just how many marks were on Aoba’s back, Mizuki must have _really_ been enjoying himself. Would he truly be happy doing things another way?

“Really?” Aoba asked genuinely. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

A hand on his chin made him raise his head, and when he met Mizuki’s eyes, he sucked in a breath. Mizuki’s lips were curled into a small smirk, and his eyes were positively smoldering.

“Need me to prove it?”

Oh… fuck. Aoba wasn’t even remotely prepared for what that question did to him. He didn’t know it until this exact moment, but the resounding thought in his head was yes. He _absolutely_ needed Mizuki to prove it. In fact, it was about the only thing he wanted or needed right now.

But he was way too tongue-tied to answer verbally, so he went for a much simpler method and shrugged the blanket off of his shoulders. Mizuki’s smirk grew as he held a hand out to Aoba.  
  
”Come here,” he beckoned softly.

Aoba swallowed as he placed his shaking hand in Mizuki’s and allowed himself to be led into Mizuki’s lap. It was nothing. Less than nothing. But Aoba’s heart was still pounding as if he’d run a marathon. Shit, this was actually happening. Finally. He was going to-

“Hn!”

Mizuki was kissing him again and oh god was Aoba ready for it this time. He threw his arms around Mizuki’s neck and leaned into the kiss hungrily. He’d waited so fucking long for this. He was damn well gonna take as much as he could. Aoba felt him smile against his lips, and Aoba couldn’t help but smile, too.

But then the kiss broke when Aoba winced at one of Mizuki’s hands running up his back, and Mizuki quickly said, “Shit, sorry. I forgot.”

Aoba laughed lightly and closed the gap to start the kiss right back up. He wasn’t quite ready to stop yet. Mizuki went along enthusiastically, but he seemed confused as to where to put his hands. He eventually settled for Aoba’s hips and gave them a gentle squeeze. It wasn’t a terribly sensitive place, but Aoba let out a moan all the same and his hips instinctively rolled.

Mizuki responded with a groan of his own and broke the kiss so that he could lean his forehead on Aoba’s shoulder. Aoba grinned and stroked the back of his hair.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing much,” Mizuki answered. “Just regretting my life choices.”

Aoba laughed again. “What?”

Mizuki sighed. “Whelps…”

Oh. Right.

That brush of Mizuki’s hand hadn’t bothered Aoba that much, but he supposed it was only natural that Mizuki would worry about it. But he didn’t want Mizuki holding back _that_ much. They’d never get anywhere.

“It’s okay,” Aoba told him. “Just do what you want, and if it gets to be too much, I’ll tell you.”

He heard the hesitation in Mizuki’s voice when he looked at him and said, “Aoba, I don’t-”  
  
”Please, Mizuki,” Aoba half-begged. “I can take it, and I…”

The words caught in his throat because goddamn this was embarrassing. But he swallowed heavily and made himself say, “I really want you right now.”

Mizuki tensed, and the worry that had been in his eyes before disappeared into some more of that smoldering heat. And it made Aoba shudder. Mizuki exhaled heavily and leaned his forehead on Aoba’s shoulder again.

“You’re gonna kill me saying things like that.”

Aoba chuckled and stroked his hair again. “Gonna kick your ass if you don’t get back on track.”

Mizuki let out a light chuckle and mumbled, “Back on track…”

Aoba cocked his head to the side. “Hmm? What is it?”

Mizuki raised his head, shook it, and answered, “Nothing. Come here.”

Aoba grinned as he was led into another kiss, this time gasping when Mizuki wrapped both of his arms around him. Mizuki’s arms pressed into the whelps, but the pain was nothing next to the glorious feeling of being held so tightly. Then Mizuki’s arms dropped, and Aoba let out a surprised yip when Mizuki suddenly grabbed two generous handfuls of his ass.

Mizuki’s satisfied hum was followed by him saying, “You… have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

Aoba’s cheeks burned again, and he buried his face in the crook of Mizuki’s neck to hide it. So this… wasn’t something Sly had let him do? As petty as it was, that made Aoba feel better. Knowing there was at least _something_ he got to do with Mizuki that Sly didn’t. But then his cheeks burned hotter when Mizuki moved on to relentlessly kneading at his ass.

“H-Hey!” Aoba scolded.

“What?” Mizuki asked sarcastically. “It’s not my fault you have an amazing ass.”

Aoba wanted to bury his face even further, but since he couldn’t he settled for mumbling, “You’re the worst.”

Mizuki chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”

Still holding tightly to Aoba’s ass, Mizuki stood up, and Aoba had to scramble to wrap his legs around him.

“Ah! Geeze, Mizuki, warn me next time.”

As Mizuki was turning Aoba toward the bed, he chuckled and said, “Nope.”

Aoba grumbled but didn’t bother trying to think of a retort as Mizuki laid him gently on the bed. He was about to start trying to scoot back when Mizuki came down on top of him and went right for another kiss. And, oh god Aoba thought he might melt into a puddle when Mizuki’s full weight pressed into him and he was able to feel Mizuki’s stiff cock through his jeans.

Mizuki groaned again and dropped his forehead to the center of Aoba’s chest. “Sorry, but I gotta get these damn jeans off.”

Aoba laughed and propped himself up on his elbows as Mizuki practically launched himself off the bed and had his jeans undone in a mere second. He pulled them down, and the moment his cock was revealed, Aoba’s eyes went wider and he had to stop himself from licking his lips. Holy shit. He’d just seen Mizuki naked earlier, but he wasn’t hard, so he had no idea that he was so…

Mizuki was shaking the jeans off his feet when he teasingly asked, “You trying to make me blush?”

Aoba cleared his throat and looked away as heat stung his cheeks again. He hadn’t meant to stare but… fucking hell had Mizuki ever looked at that thing?

“Hey, I didn’t say you had to stop,” Mizuki said. “I’ll even put on a show for you if you want.”

With a roll of his eyes, Aoba retorted, “What I _want_ is for you to get the hell back over here.”

“All right, all right,” Mizuki answered with a laugh in his voice.

He crawled back on the bed, and damned if Aoba’s eyes didn’t lock onto his dick again when he did. But Mizuki just chuckled smugly before kissing Aoba’s forehead and pressing a hand to the center of his chest. With a gentle shove, he pushed Aoba flat on his back again and looked down at him with a hazy expression.

“Anything in particular you want?” Mizuki asked, sounding like he was just barely holding himself back. “Say it now, otherwise I’m just gonna go to fucking town.”

Aoba sucked in a breath. Oh, shit, that was hot. He’d never heard Mizuki sound so ravenous before. Was this a small glimpse of that ‘beast’ he’d mentioned? If so, Aoba thought maybe he wouldn’t mind seeing some more of it, as long as it didn’t involve any pain. But… saying that out loud… It made him want to bury his face in Mizuki’s neck again.

A hand gently stroked his hair and Mizuki said, “What is it? Come on, you can tell me.”

He said that, but he had no idea how embarrassing this was. Still, Aoba wanted Mizuki to be able to let loose at least a little bit. Even if he said he’d love this no matter what they were doing, Aoba wouldn’t love it as much if Mizuki had to hold back completely.

_Buck the hell up, Aoba. You can do this._

He took a breath to prepare himself and mumbled, “Keep… talking to me.”

The moment the words left his mouth, he wanted to kick himself. Goddammit, that was so freaking vague. There was no way Mizuki was going to understand what he was-

“All right,” Mizuki responded, sounding really excited. “Gotta warn you, though. My mouth is about to be pretty damn busy.”

It wasn’t until that moment that Aoba realized he was completely hard because he felt wetness on his lower stomach and looked down to see that he had dribbled precome in response to Mizuki’s words. He didn’t think he’d ever been so turned on.

Then Mizuki dipped his head down to Aoba’s neck, kissing a slow, feather-light trail down to the center of his chest before veering to Aoba’s left and dragging his tongue over a nipple.

“Hng!” Aoba moaned as goosebumps rose on his skin and his legs twitched.

Mizuki let out another pleased hum and asked, “You like that?”

He didn’t wait for an answer before he started rapidly flicking his tongue back and forth over that nipple and sucked it between his lips. Aoba instinctively raised the back of his hand to his mouth to muffle a moan, but the moment he did, he felt Mizuki’s hand close around his forearm.

“No,” Mizuki said firmly as he pulled Aoba’s hand away.

Aoba cringed. “But…”

“I said no,” Mizuki repeated. “I wanna hear every single sound that comes out of that pretty mouth of yours.”

That only made Aoba cringe harder, and he covered his face with his hands. Too. Fucking. Embarrassing.

Mizuki chuckled and pulled Aoba’s hands away. “Hey, you were the one who said you wanted me to talk.”

Aoba groaned. “Sh-Shut up. I know…”

Mizuki looked way too smug when he gave Aoba another quick kiss and went right back to attacking his nipple again, this time going for the right one and leaving Aoba gasping. At the same time, Mizuki slid his hand up to strum at the other nipple with his fingertips, and Aoba’s chest rose into the touches.

Mizuki hummed around Aoba’s nipple and said, “That’s it, baby. Show me how bad you want it.”

His body reacted even before his mind did as if it were somehow programmed to follow Mizuki’s commands, and his hips rose off the bed, too. Another moan launched out of Aoba when his cock bumped Mizuki’s and Mizuki let out another pleased sound. Fuck… Mizuki was so hard, and Aoba couldn’t begin to describe how happy that made him. Guess Mizuki hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he was going to love this.

But he wanted him to love it more, and with every further lick and strum to his nipples, he wanted it more and more. Mizuki was trying so hard to make this good for him, so he needed to make it good for him, too. And if that meant embarrassing the hell out of himself, he’d do it.

So when Mizuki sucked Aoba’s nipple into his mouth again, Aoba let his voice out without reserve and raised his hips higher, actually _trying_ to rut against Mizuki this time. Mizuki let go with a surprised pop and squeezed his eyes shut before biting down on his bottom lip. It made Aoba wince a little since he’d noticed how bruised Mizuki’s lip already was. But when Mizuki’s eyes opened again, it was clear that the bruising could not have been further from his purview. He looked like a tiger ready to pounce, and that did wonderful things for Aoba’s pride.

Mizuki’s voice was surprisingly calm when he said, “I hope you’re ready.”

Aoba didn’t have time for those words to really register before he was suddenly being bent in half, ass lifted off the bed and legs damn near touching the wall behind the bed. Panic set back in, and he was a breath away from asking Mizuki what the hell he was doing when Mizuki’s mouth was suddenly on his hole and Aoba’s words evaporated.

_Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!_

This was new, completely new, and he wasn’t ready for how mind-numbing it was. Mizuki was alternating between slow drags and rapid flickers with such expertise and precision that Aoba didn’t have a single second to be embarrassed about how exposed this position left him. He just hung his mouth open, moaned obscenely, and let his hands travel down to loosely grip Mizuki’s hair.

Another groan was followed by Mizuki mumbling, “God, Aoba... Those noises you’re making…”

He punctuated those words with a press against Aoba’s rim, which gave very easily and soon enough Mizuki was outright tongue-fucking him. Aoba had to swallow back almost a whole mouthful of spit to keep from choking as the stimulation completely overwhelmed him and turned him into a gasping, writhing mess.

Mizuki proded Aoba’s hole relentlessly and for so long that Aoba’s back began to ache from the position, but he said nothing. He said nothing because he couldn’t remember if he’d ever felt this good and he did not want it stopping. So when Mizuki slid a finger up to replace his tongue, Aoba could have sung his praises from the rooftops. But he didn’t think he could stop moaning long enough, so he settled for moving his hips to force Mizuki’s finger in deeper.

Mizuki smirked while he wiped drool off his chin and said, “You like that, babe? Want some more?”

Aoba nodded wildly, not even caring anymore how overly-eager he was being or how embarrassing it was for Mizuki to call him things like ‘baby’ and ‘babe.’ All his body and mind could register was _more_. Whatever the hell Mizuki wanted to give him, at this point. He didn’t care. He just wanted more.

“Say it,” Mizuki commanded, his voice deeper and more demanding.

And Aoba didn’t have it in him to disobey, at this point, so he stared Mizuki in the eyes and shamelessly muttered, “More.”

Mizuki gently lowered Aoba’s ass to the bed and started trailing his other hand up Aoba’s thigh and toward his cock.

“You can do better than that,” Mizuki said in that same demanding tone, his finger slowing its stroking. “Come on, Aoba. Tell me how much you want it.”

The slowing of Mizuki’s fingers sent a different sort of panic through Aoba, one that snapped some sort of string in him and made him no longer care what sort of obscenities came out of his mouth. Just as long as Mizuki didn’t stop.

“More!” Aoba almost screamed. “Spread me open! Make a fucking mess of me, please!”

The movement of Mizuki’s finger didn’t stop, but it definitely stalled a bit, and when Aoba looked down to see what was going on, he found that Mizuki looked genuinely shocked. Aoba was sure he’d be shocked later, but for right now, his whole body was burning and he needed Mizuki to get on with it.

“Hurry up!” Aoba scolded, and that seemed to snap Mizuki back to attention.

He looked nothing but pleased when he nudged another finger in next to the first one and lowered his face down, bringing it a mere inch from Aoba’s cock. Aoba felt his hot breaths against his head, and they were fucking sinful.

“You have no idea how happy you just made me, Aoba,” Mizuki beamed before opening his mouth and leaning in.

Within the span of a breath, Mizuki had engulfed Aoba’s cock, taking him almost all the way in and making Aoba’s head fly back. His hips tried to raise again, but Mizuki’s held him still as he started bobbing his head up and down. And Aoba absolutely melted into the sheets beneath him. There was quite literally nothing else he could do, especially once Mizuki started moving his finger again.

But then he felt it, a curling of Mizuki’s finger that made his eyes shoot open wide and his entire body jolt.

“Shit!” Aoba exclaimed. “Mizuki, wait! That’s-”

Mizuki cut him off with a second press to his prostate, compounded by a long, slow suck on his cock that made Aoba’s words turn to a desperate and overwhelmed moan. Too much. Way too much. If Mizuki kept that up.

“Ngh… move!” Aoba told him frantically. “Move… you idiot! I’m going to-”

But Mizuki just sucked harder and rubbed at Aoba’s prostate more rapidly, and that was the final straw. Aoba’s back arched, his toes curled, and he came with a moan so loud that it echoed in the room. And Mizuki kept sucking him all the way through it, even though Aoba was sure he’d just shot buckets of cum into his mouth.

Mizuki withdrew his finger at the same time he pulled off, and Aoba could have died when he saw Mizuki make a show out of swallowing his load. Well, there was his embarrassment, returning in force now that he’d gotten his orgasm.

So his cheeks were set ablaze when Mizuki huskily said, “You look so damn good right now.”

Aoba looked away and grumbled, “Stupid…”

Mizuki chuckled lightly and leaned over to kiss Aoba on the temple. “But you love me anyway, right?”

Mizuki had spoken those words with his typical playful tone, but they didn’t land well, and Aoba thought he knew why. Mizuki had confessed his feelings, but Aoba hadn’t yet. And even if Mizuki was trying to sound casual, Aoba could tell he really needed to hear it. He wrapped his arms around Mizuki’s neck and closed his eyes as he pressed their foreheads together.

With a grin on his face, he answered, “Yeah. I love you anyway.”

Mizuki tensed a little, but Aoba just hugged him tighter as warmth pooled in his chest. Even though he’d already pretty much confessed non-verbally, it actually felt really good to say it out loud. Something he’d wanted to say for so long but never thought he could. Now that he knew what he knew, not saying it all this time felt incredibly silly.

Something hitting his cheek broke him from his thoughts, so he opened his eyes to see what it was. His mouth hung open and that warmth in his chest turned to ice when he saw that it was a tear that hit his face, Mizuki’s tear.

Aoba scrambled to cup Mizuki’s face and ask, “H-Hey! Mizuki? What’s wrong?”

Mizuki smiled and shook his head weakly before raising one of his hands to cover Aoba’s. “Sorry, Aoba. It’s nothing, really.”

Aoba’s eyebrows ran together. “Don’t give me that. It’s obviously something.”

Mizuki blew out a breath and gingerly shook his head out of Aoba’s grip before raising one of his own hands to clean the tears off his face. Then he rolled over on the bed next to Aoba, sitting with his back against the pillows and the headboard. The pained look on his face made Aoba’s chest ache, so he immediately followed him, climbing into his lap to straddle him as he’d done earlier. Mizuki smiled up at him, but it was weak, forced, and his hands only lazily held on to Aoba’s hips.

“Sorry,” Mizuki said. “I killed the mood.”

Aoba shook his head. “Don’t worry about that.”

Mizuki raised his arms to wrap around Aoba and leaned his forehead into the center of Aoba’s chest. Aoba hugged him back and turned to lean his cheek on the top of Mizuki’s head.

He felt a second heavy breath against his chest before Mizuki said, “It really is nothing serious. Kinda dumb, actually.”

“Serious enough to make you cry,” Aoba retorted. “So will you tell me?”

Mizuki leaned back against the pillows and his eyes veered off as his hands fell to Aoba’s hips again.

The hesitation was plain on his face, but he still said, “Sly told me… that you were gonna go chasing after that Mink guy before you found out I was in the hospital.”

That was news to Aoba. Must have been one of the things Mizuki forgot to add to his explanation, earlier. Still, Aoba didn’t see what that had to do with anything, so he cocked his head to the side.

Mizuki glanced up at Aoba for only a second before he went on, “Earlier, when I told you I’d let you leave without trying to stop you… I meant it. And all I could think about was that if I let you go, you’d go after him and I’d never see you again.”

Aoba’s mouth was hanging almost all the way open. Mizuki sounded so hopeless, and it wasn’t as if Aoba could assure him he’d never planned on going after Mink because that was the very first thing he reached for during his blind panic. Stupid. So fucking stupid.

With a sniffle and another wipe of his eyes, Mizuki said, “I know it’s dumb, but… I really was terrified. I seriously don’t know what I’d do if you left and never came back.”

Those words were like a stab to Aoba’s chest that had him throwing his arms around Mizuki’s neck again. Dammit. No wonder he’d wanted to hear Aoba say that he loved him.

He hugged Mizuki tightly and quickly said, “It’s not dumb! It’s not dumb at all! I… felt the same way.”

Mizuki hesitantly raised his arms to drape lightly around Aoba again and asked, “You did?”

Aoba nodded before leaning his forehead on Mizuki’s shoulder. He took a breath. He had to. This next part wasn’t going to be easy to say, but he knew he had to.

“I _was_ gonna go after Mink,” Aoba admitted. “I thought you didn’t want _me_ and only wanted Sly, so…”

He was cut off by tears welling in his own eyes as his mind forced him to remember how awful he’d felt for those few minutes. But he needed to finish this, so he swallowed the knot in his throat.

“But I didn’t _want_ to leave,” Aoba went on. “Not really. I was just… scared, too.”

He pulled back a little, just far enough that he could look at Mizuki’s face. His tears were mostly dried, and the despair was gone from his eyes. That made Aoba feel slightly better, but that wasn’t good enough. He needed Mizuki smiling again like he should be.

He leaned in to give Mizuki a long, deep kiss and shivered at the goosebumps that popped up on his skin when Mizuki’s hand gently moved into his hair. He wanted to keep kissing him forever, but there was still something else he needed to say, so he made himself pull back and flash Mizuki a warm smile.

“I love you, Mizuki,” Aoba said frankly. “I’ve always loved you. _Only_ you.”

Mizuki sat there, staring back at Aoba and looking dumbfounded for a couple of seconds. It was incredibly cute, so it only widened Aoba’s smile and made a laugh rise in his throat. It was quiet at first, but after a few seconds, it got a little louder until he was covering his mouth to try to keep it in.

“Geeze,” Mizuki said playfully. “Is my face that funny?”

Aoba made himself calm down, but he was still chuckling a little when he answered, “Right now? Yeah.”

Mizuki snorted out his own laugh, and soon they were caught in a cycle of only laughing because the other one was. Every time one of them would start to wind down, the other one would still be laughing, so neither of them could seem to stop.

“Ah ha ha ha. Oh shit. Ah ha. My sides,” Aoba eventually said, gripping his sides. “Crap… we have to… stop.”

Mizuki’s laughs wound down to a few light chuckles and he answered, “Yeah… you’re right. I can’t fucking breathe…”

They both started taking some heavy breaths to make themselves calm down, and once they were both able to carry on without laughing anymore, their eyes met. The smiles fell from their faces, and Aoba could tell Mizuki felt it at the same time he did. Something like a switch flicking on that had them both leaning in for another kiss. It was a deep, messy, and loud kiss that seemed to instantly reignite the fire that had been stamped out by Mizuki’s tears.

Mizuki’s hand pressed into the back of Aoba’s head to pull Aoba in tighter, and while the soreness in his scalp made it hurt, Aoba easily ignored it. Things were getting back to where they were supposed to be, so he wasn’t gonna say anything that might change that. His hands pressed into Mizuki’s chest and started moving up and down over his pecs before dipping lower, and lower until his palms were brushing his abs. Then he went lower.

Aoba internally frowned when he discovered Mizuki wasn’t entirely hard yet, but he’d fix that. He curled his fingers around the soft cock and started a quick, steady pump that had Mizuki groaning and breaking the kiss.

“Fuck, babe,” Mizuki moaned. “That feels nice.”

Nice? Aoba thought he could definitely do better than nice, and increased the pace of his stroking. Mizuki swelled in his hand and was at his full hardness in only a couple more seconds. The moment he was, Aoba realized he wanted nothing more than to have Mizuki inside of him. Now.

He kept up his stroking while looking Mizuki right in the eyes and it only took Mizuki a fleeting second to understand, even though Aoba said nothing.

Mizuki leaned in to capture Aoba’s lips in a bruising kiss before saying against his lips, “Lube and condoms in the end table.”

Aoba didn’t waste a second and crawled to the edge of the bed to open the drawer. Inside, he saw the lube, the condoms, and some sort of feather-duster looking object with a plastic handle sitting on top. He pushed it to the side, picked up the lube, and was about to grab the condoms, too, when he noticed something. They weren’t open. His eye twitched and another wave of pettiness came over him before he closed the drawer. If Sly didn’t use a condom, he wasn’t going to, either.

He held the lube out to Mizuki, and when Mizuki took it, he used his other hand to grasp Aoba’s wrist and pull him right back into his lap. Aoba let out a surprised gasp, but he moved to adjust quickly enough. He hadn’t expected Mizuki to want this position, but he definitely wasn’t going to complain about it.

Mizuki popped open the lube, and Aoba watched him spread it over three of his fingers before he met Aoba’s eyes again, an unspoken question on his face. As sure as Aoba was about this, it made him smile to see how Mizuki was still letting him know it was okay to back out if he wasn’t up to it. He really was so damn sweet.

Aoba gave him a single nod, and that was, evidently, all that Mizuki needed because he dropped his hand straight down and went for Aoba’s rim. Aoba did his best to relax, but he was surprised when two fingers slipped right in with almost no trouble. He was confused for only a moment before he figured it out. He was going to give Sly one hell of a piece of his mind later.  
  
Although, Aoba had to admit it _was_ kind of working to his advantage. The less time Mizuki had to spend preparing him, the sooner Aoba could feel that cock inside of him. With that in mind, he pushed the bitterness to the back of his mind and focused entirely on the feeling of Mizuki’s fingers stirring him up all over again. He rocked his hips to lean into those fingers and help Mizuki along, and Mizuki responded with a pleased groan.

“You are _so_ fucking hot,” Mizuki whispered. “I’m not gonna last if you keep doing shit like that.”

Aoba took that more as a challenge than a threat and rocked his hips again, harder this time, and Mizuki’s eyes flared. He scissored those fingers and easily made room for the third one before plunging all three in as deep as he could reach. Aoba let his head hang back and kept moving along with Mizuki’s fingers until his ass was spread so wide Aoba was certain Mizuki’s cock would slide in with almost no resistance.

At that point, he rolled his hips one more time and said, “Come on, Mizuki.”

Mizuki looked a little disappointed, but he still did what Aoba asked and drew out his fingers. That disappointment made Aoba curious, but he wasn’t going to ask about it right now. He didn’t want to risk them going off on another tangent when they were so damn close.

He saw Mizuki reach for the bottle again, but he decided to snatch it first, only just now realizing he wanted to be the one to lube Mizuki up. He squirted a generous helping into his palm and reached down to gingerly coat Mizuki from tip to base. The satisfied moan that rumbled in Mizuki’s throat only piled on more excitement, so when Aoba finished, he couldn’t stop himself. He raised his ass up, adjusted Mizuki, and started trying to sink down on him all on his own. Mizuki’s hands shot to his hips to help him, and within only a few glorious seconds, Aoba was perfectly mounted.

And god… He’d thought Mizuki’s fingers felt good, but this… He thought he could die right now and have no regrets.

Mizuki rubbed slow circles on Aoba’s hips with his thumbs as he asked, “You good?”

“Mm,” Aoba answered with a nod. “Better than good.”

Mizuki closed the distance with another kiss and mumbled, “All right.”

Then he started thrusting up into Aoba with such fervor that Aoba had to scramble to wrap his arms around Mizuki’s neck for support. That put his neck right next to Mizuki’s mouth, and Mizuki took full advantage, peppering the sensitive skin with wet kisses, messy licks, and soft bites. It sent a pleasant chill through Aoba’s whole body and had him rocking along with Mizuki’s movements just as he’d done earlier.

Mizuki slid his hands around to instead hold Aoba by his ass, squeezing it tightly as he said, “Fuck yeah. That’s perfect, babe. Keep going.”

Aoba hadn’t planned on stopping, but Mizuki’s encouragement only made him want to try harder, so he started moving his hips faster. Mizuki had made him feel so damn good earlier. He wanted to do the same for him, now. And judging by how Mizuki was chewing on his lower lip again, Aoba was well on his way to making it happen.

So he tried to go even harder, even faster. His legs started screaming at him and his hips began to ache, but he scarcely noticed since he was so hyperfocused on watching the changes in Mizuki’s face. Every little twitch, every roll of his eyes, every further bite to his lip drove Aoba on, and eventually, he felt Mizuki’s grip on his ass tighten even more.

Through heavy breaths and gritted teeth, Mizuki groaned, “Aoba… I’m sorry, but…”

Aoba didn’t have time to even think of a response before he was suddenly on his back, his hands pressed over his head and his legs wrapped around Mizuki’s waist. Mizuki took only a second to wind his and Aoba’s fingers together before he started absolutely pounding into Aoba with rough, jerky thrusts that made Aoba’s vision go hazy.

He hadn’t thought it could get any better, but watching Mizuki lose control completely like this was so unbelievably hot. Okay. He could _definitely_ understand the appeal of Mizuki letting the ‘beast’ loose now, even if he still wasn’t crazy about the ‘pain’ aspect.

Mizuki’s moans became deeper and louder with every thrust until he was half growling, “Shit… Gonna come… Do you want me to-”

“No,” Aoba interrupted breathily, already knowing what he was going to ask. “Inside, Mizuki. Please.”

With that permission given, Mizuki only had to give Aoba another handful of thrusts before he was gritting his teeth harder and coming with a bellowing moan that brought a satisfied grin to Aoba’s face.

Mizuki fell limp almost immediately, collapsing onto Aoba and releasing a series of heavy breaths right next to Aoba’s ear. The breaths flowing into his ear sent a pleasant tingle through Aoba’s body and had him humming with satisfaction.

After a few more seconds, Mizuki seemed to catch his breath and he turned his head to place a soft kiss on the side of Aoba’s neck. Aoba smiled at the tenderness and nuzzled his head against Mizuki’s in response.

Then Mizuki raised his head, kissed Aoba’s forehead, and asked, “Believe me now?”

It took Aoba a second to get his meaning, but after he did, he laughed and answered, “Yeah, yeah. I was worrying over nothing. Blah, blah, blah.”

Mizuki laughed as well before slowly pulling out and leaving Aoba mildly disappointed at how empty he suddenly felt. They were gonna have to do that again soon because Aoba didn’t think he could get enough of how well Mizuki filled him up.

He followed a pleased sigh with, “So, you wanna get some- EH?”

Mizuki had just looped his arm under Aoba’s legs and lifted him clean off the bed bridal style. Aoba’s first instinct was to grab Mizuki’s neck to keep from falling, but once his brain ticked into place, his second thought was to wiggle and try to get away.

“Hey, will you quit it?” Mizuki scolded. “You’re gonna make me drop you.”

“Good!” Aoba snapped back. “I can walk by myself, so put me down!”

With a cocky smirk, Mizuki said, “Nope.”

Then he turned to walk toward the bathroom, and Aoba pouted the whole way. He’d been embarrassed more than enough today, already. When they made it into the room, Aoba was reminded of the mess he made in there with his freakout, and his cheeks burned again.

“Sorry, Mizuki.”

Mizuki shook his head and grinned. “Forget about it.”

He then sat Aoba down on the edge of the tub and started picking up the things Aoba had knocked down as well as the shelf which was, thankfully, undamaged. Aoba stood up and was about to help him when Mizuki pointed to the tub.

“You get the water ready,” he told Aoba. “We both need a bath if we’re gonna go anywhere today.”

Aoba cocked his head to the side. “Where are we going?”

Mizuki was in the middle of putting the shelf back on the wall when he glanced at Aoba and said, “To your house, for one. Sly kind of snuck out in the middle of the night, remember?”

Oh. Oh crap. Granny. She was probably at least a little bit worried since he hadn’t told her he was going anywhere.

“And then we’re gonna stop by Mediocrity and I’m gonna sweet talk Haga-san into giving you some time off,” Mizuki said as he started putting the bottles and other things back on the shelf.

“Huh? Time off?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Mizuki answered before he turned to look at the tub. “You gonna turn that on or what?”

“Oh, um. Right. Sorry.”

Aoba quickly turned on the faucet, holding his hand under the water until it was a decent temperature and then plugging the tub. Once the water was high enough, Mizuki stepped in first and sat down. He leaned his arms on the sides and blew out a heavy breath. Aoba had to grin at how relaxed he looked.

When their eyes met again, Mizuki asked, “You getting in?”

Aoba’s cheeks heated up a little. He didn’t know Mizuki meant for them to get in the tub at the same time. But after everything they’d just done, Aoba didn’t figure it was that big of a deal to take a bath together. It wasn’t that much different than their trips to the bathhouse.

So he climbed in and since the water was high enough, he turned it off and sat with his back to Mizuki’s chest. He propped his arms up on Mizuki’s knees and lay his head on his shoulder.  
  
This… was really nice.

“Anyway,” Mizuki said. “We’re getting you some time off because I want to take you somewhere.”

Aoba turned his head a little to look at Mizuki. “Take me where?”

Mizuki shrugged. “Wherever you want to go. I just really wanna take you on a vacation so I can have you to myself for a while.”

Geeze. Mizuki was the king of saying embarrassing shit, but Aoba had to admit that a vacation did sound nice. And getting to be alone with Mizuki for a while sounded even better.

So he nuzzled his head against Mizuki’s again and said, “The beach sounds good.”

The water sloshed a little when Mizuki dropped his arms to wrap around Aoba’s waist and pull him a hair closer. He left a kiss on Aoba’s cheek and said, “All right. The beach it is.”

Aoba turned his head, even more, to turn the cheek kiss into a real one, and he thought he really would melt into the warm water. Had he ever been this happy in his life? He didn’t think so.

‘ _I told you you’d be thanking me later._ ’

Aoba rolled his eyes. ‘ _Shut up, Sly_.’


End file.
